Mass Effect: Shadowed Legacy
by Thy King
Summary: The Mass Effect universe never clearly states how the council got to learn of the war between the Turians and Humanity. The true story has been classified to the highest levels. Retired general Williams is defying that order, to show what really happened during the month of war at Shanxi. Hackett, Anderson and OCs. Secondary: Shala'Raan, Tevos, General Williams, Admiral Drescher
1. Chapter 0 Shadowed Legacy

**This is my story Mass Effect - Shadowed Legacy. Thanks for giving it a chance. This is my first fanfic, so please review so I can learn and improve.  
**

**I am going to try to stay as close to cannon as possible, but it will introduce other tech and not use all the characters that Bioware has come up with. There will be no Harper, and i might miss a few others. Also, I have not read the books, so if anything is going to clash with that, sorry. :)  
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**Chapter 0 was going to be the explanation behind the story, but i decided to do it a bit differently.  
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**Enjoy, and review! It will help me a lot!  
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**Let us begin then:  
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* * *

**Chapter 0 - Shadowed Legacy**

** RECORDING STARTED **

** DATE: 22-3-2174 13:22 **

"Is this thing on?"  
"Yes, grandpa, it is."

*Sigh*

"Why does this thing not say it's on?"  
"I don't know, but it is running now."

"Ready Gramps?"

"Yeah... You might want to take a seat, this is going to take a while. But you should hear this too."  
"I am not going anywhere, I am way to curious."

"Hmpf.."

* Sigh*

"Ok. To anyone that might be watching this. My time is almost up. I have lived a long and mostly satisfying life. I have given everything I have, and defended humanity against many threats."

"But one in particular is not remembered as it should. People high up have classified this level 6 or higher. I suspect because they were embarrassed, or afraid that humanity might look weak, or something."

*Cough Cough*

"I was there when they first came. Our technology was different then. Mostly in its infancy. We where outmatched and outgunned. But even so, we managed to hold out, against all odds."

*Shuffle*

"History will have you believe that at Shanxi, the Turians where gearing up for full scale war, and that _that_ is what got the council interference going. They then came by, and made peace."

"Of course the hostilities then stopped, and the 'good' people of Earth where looking at somebody to blame. They blamed it on me. All on me."

"Grmpf"

"They were not even there, but they knew exactly what I should have done. And when they were done scolding me, they classified everything. It might even have come from the council, I don't know."

"But what the history books tell you is not what happened for real. A few brave souls made a difference in that one month of fighting. However, history will probably never record their heroic actions."

*Cough, Cough, Cough*

"Heh... dammit."

"That is not right. They deserve to be recognized for their contribution. That is why I am making this recording. With this recording will be my private copy of all the files I, ehh, 'liberated' after being o so politely told that I should step down."

"The council is not as honorable as they want you to know. Even they are not telling you the truth. They are probably more interested in covering the embarrassment of the Turians."

"Well, I am _not_."

"Attached to this recording are logs, video files, personal diaries, anything I could get my hands on."

"The _truth _of what happened during the Turian attack on Shanxi. All of it."

"Don't worry about me. I have been told I have terminal cancer, and have only a few weeks to live. I will die, shamed in the history books by people we depend on for leadership. But I am done caring about that. If they shoot me, they would be doing me a favor."

"My name is General Bernard Harold Williams, former commanding officer of the Shanxi military forces, retired. And this is my _shadowed legacy._"

*Cough, cough, cough*

*sigh*

"That's it. The rest is up to others."  
"Do you think they will believe you?"

"I can only hope. It is time the story gets out."  
"I will do all I can."

"I know you will, Ash. But you have to go to basic training soon."  
"I know."

"You know they will actively try to keep you down."  
"I know."

"I am proud of you Ashley Williams."  
"Heh. Thank you. That.. means everything. Time to show them some Williams stubbornness."

"You show them, girl. Hahahah."  
"Let's turn this thing off, now.."

"Red button Grandpa."

"Signing off."

*Sigh*

"Hmpf"

** RECORDING ENDED **


	2. Chapter 1 Introductions

**Chapter 1 - Introductions - 2156 - Earth**

Opening: Mars transcript 1:

**BEGIN TRANSCRIPT**

_"Houston, this is Thor flight"_

_"Go ahead Thor"_

_"We are ready to depart. Thrusters, primary and secondary are in the green, checks have been completed. All systems are go."_

_"We are also go on our end, Thor. Be advised, you are entering engine burn window in 3 minutes"_

_"Roger that, Houston. ETA to primary engine burn is 2 minutes 50 seconds and counting. Spooling up cores one through 6."_

_"Roger that Thor, spooling up confirmed. We are receiving telemetry. All looks good."_

_"We are at 50 percent power, 60, ...70, ...80, ...90, ...100 percent power, all gauges are stable."_

_"Roger that Thor, you are go for burn, I repeat, go for burn."_

_"Understood Houston. This is it, boys and girls! Strap yourselves in, stow your fake coffee in your pouches, because we are going byebye."_

_"Hehheheh, *ahum*, understood Thor. 15 seconds on the clock, on my mark... Mark!"_

_"Roger that. ... 10 seconds"_

_"5"_

_"4"_

_"3"_

_"2"_

_"1"_

_*RUMBLE*_

_"Primary engines initiated. We are away. Mars, here we come."_

_"Good luck Thor. Houston out."_

_"You think we will find aliens there?" _

_"Oh, please not more of your green aliens from Mars crap, Hank!" _

_"Hahaha, it could happen, you know!" _

_"Oh, stow it!"_

**END TRANSCRIPT**

"And so we began our journey to Mars. Full of hopes, but not aware of what we might find. Not that it would matter though. Would you recognize Pandora's box when you see it?"

* * *

"Should be the next left."

While watching on his wristcom, Hackett sees a small icon flashing, indicating the small café where he is going to meet his friends. Not all members of his tight friends group had met each other in person before today, and was looking forward to it. His memories wander over when he met the other 3 'idiots' online, as he fondly calls them. It did not take long before his wristcom indicated he had arrived at his destination.

"Here we are." Hackett mutters to nobody but himself, and spots the group of three people sitting around a small table, with two beers and a cola. _Martin is still not a beer man_. Hackett walks towards the table with his friends.

"Guys, 'the General' is here!" Hackett's nickname after taking charge of a group of basic military trainees during a minor incident which injured several training officers. _David 'Andy' Anderson_, who was of the same basic training year as Hackett, found it funny how he 'commanded' them to stay in line, and actually managed to keep order long enough to let the rest of the day go without a hitch. The nickname followed soon after, courtesy of _David Anderson._ It stuck. Hackett did not exactly mind. He got commendations, three friends, and a nickname out of basic training, next to the training itself.

"David! Good to see you", while Hackett shook Anderson's hand, "Long time no see."

Before Anderson could answer, a not unknown man speaks up first "I thought you were talking to me." while he stuck his hand out as well.

"I guess you must be _David Glenn_, as I don't see another David on this table?"

Glenn responded with a nice smile. "Yes sir, General, sir!" Hackett chuckled.

David Glenn was a typical American. He had an all-round love for technology, and was quite patriotic. For a long time, his world ended at the borders of the USA. A fact that his international friends fondly remind him of, every time he was spouting his patriotism; usually in a humoristic mocking fashion. However, the man could learn, and having friends from other countries quickly changed his 'USA-first' attitude. Still patriotic, he knew when to back off or concede to allies. His parents where both from the USA and the Netherlands, and he spoke both languages fluently.

"It's a shame. You don't do your digital image any justice. You are much prettier rendered in pixels!" Hackett retorted quickly. Glenn's eyes enlarged at the comment, clearly being surprised as his mouth tried to form a decent come back. But the table remained silent, until all four men started laughing hard.

"Thanks." Hackett shook David Glenn's hand too.

"Martin, good to see you in person. Still the geek of the group?" Hackett looked at the man that had become a good friend of David Glenn since their introduction at Engineering school in the Netherlands. Glenn had introduced them via chat rooms, and they liked playing online with and against each other. _Martin de Krijger_ was a Dutchman, and quite the oddball out, just like Glenn. But that did not prevent him from keeping up with the others. Although Hackett had never met Martin in person, they, together with Anderson, and Glenn, became quite the close group.

Hackett was the latest addition to the 'band' as they called themselves. David Glenn and David Anderson where friends from day one of high school. Their introductions to each other where always lengthy and used to repeat their names frequently. It had already become an old joke, but neither of them quit doing it. At the ever increasing playful irritation of the others.

When Glenn followed his parents to the Netherlands, and started to study engineering, he met Martin de Krijger. A like-minded man, both interested in modern history, with the same sense of humor as the rest of the Band. Using the internet, virtual interaction holograms, games, and social entertainment, Martin was introduced to Anderson.

Anderson in the meanwhile started with basic training, trying to become a space marine, where he met _Steven 'The General' Hackett_. They bonded quickly in basic training, and Anderson introduced Hackett to the rest of the Band. Despite the different backgrounds of all of them, they where almost a seamless fit.

"I prefer 'Nerd', General", Martin answered the challenge laid out by Hackett, who answered it with a quick smile. "And if you think your toughness is going to intimidate me, I can still kick your ass at Modern Battlefield 4. I am the king of the digital Gauss Rifle after all!"

Hackett looked at him with feigned fear. "Wait until I put a real one in your hands, let's see how you do then." Martin responded with showing Hackett the finger, while everybody around the table chuckled softly.

Hackett sat down and ordered his own beer, as he looked around the table. It was an odd group. Two die hard soldiers, and two weird engineers. The unlikeliest of friends, with different backgrounds, different interest, and after today, different directions in life. This was the last, and only group meeting, before everybody had to go their own way. Anderson thought they should all meet, since they were quite close together, geographically.

"So, what is your plan, General?" Martin asked in an attempt to get the conversation going.

"I am going to my ship assignment. I am going to be stationed at the cruiser Hong Kong, as part of the tactical team. Playing with the big guns." Hackett answered.

"You actually think they will let you shoot one of those things?" Glenn asked, listening with interest.

"No, I don't think so. I will probably be stationed at either sensors or ship defense. You need experience and rank to be stationed at the main gun station, or be supervised by someone with experience or rank." Hackett looked a bit disappointed by that, but was happy for the change of scenery.

"And what rank have they given you then, huh? You had a decent amount of experience commanding a squad on the ground. Speaking of which, why did you choose to become a starship puppet?"

Hackett looked at Martin with a steel face. "I... Don't really want to talk about it. I needed a change of scenery, and I always wanted to go into space. This was the perfect opportunity. And they made me a second lieutenant." Hackett answered reluctantly.

"What happened? And isn't 2nd lieutenant not already a rank high enough to shoot the main gun?" Hackett kept looking at Martin, as he kept asking for the cause of Hackett's reluctance.

"Just.. Nothing."Hackett kept stonewalling. Nobody needed to know. "And you need to be a 2nd lieutenant to even approach tactical stations of significance in a cruiser. I will have a few people under me in rank, but as far as high enough rank goes: it is the lowest on the totem pole."

Martin looked at Hackett intensely, searching for answers on a stone face. He got none, and decided to stop asking. He could only respond with: "That sucks."

The table remained silent for a while, until Anderson spoke up: "Do you look forward to it?"

Hackett answered in a reserved manner. "Yeah, I am. Even though I had all the training, I still do not know what to expect. I guess I am a bit nervous. Tomorrow is going to be a big day." Hackett decided that this is about time to turn the conversation over to somebody else, so he 'fired' before anybody could decide to continue the conversation. "How about you Andy?" Anderson did not need long to think about it.

"N7. Best training a soldier can get. I don't want to do things half way anyway, so yeah, I'll be flying out in a few hours. I guess I am quite nervous too." Everybody looked at Anderson. N7 was a relative new branch of the military, still at its infancy, but it was quite well known that N7 was going to test humans to their absolute limits. Any N7 should be a 'one man army', specifically trained and hardened for missions against smuggler bases and drug cartels. They were going to be the new top standard for special forces soldier, and where going on the hardest missions, with the best equipment, or so the recruitment poster said.

"N7? Isn't that just about the toughest thing you can do as a soldier?" The rhetorical question lingered in the air for a while.

Anderson answered clearly: "I have already been in combat, and have seen men die in my squad by fire from drug cartels. I was powerless to stop it. Not a good enough soldier to make a difference. I did not know how. Next time it is my time to shoot, I want to be a force of nature. I want to be able to lead my people out of the way of danger, or know how, where and when to eliminate that danger when needed."

"Survivors guilt?" Martin asked.

Anderson grimaced. "Perhaps, but I learned quickly that I could have done a whole load of different actions in order to save lives. And since I joined the military to do good, not watch good people die, I want that knowledge, I _need_ it."

Glenn softly said: "You can't save everybody, David."

"I know, but I should at least try, or know how to try. So N7 is going to provide that knowledge. Since it is significantly harder than normal special forces training, I'll see how far I will get. No shame in stepping out early in N7 school, but I hate to quit early."

"We know, you have been kicking our arses online often enough. Thankfully, we learned a good number of your moves, Andy." Martin tried to up the mood around the table. Having two soldiers at the table, reminiscing about their combat experience did not bode well for their moods. "What about you, Glenn?"

"I'm going to the Mars ruins." He said in a quick answer. It deadpanned the conversation for a while, as nobody had a good comeback for that. So Glenn continued: "It is not as boring as it sounds. Have none of you asked yourself what is on that artifact we found? Our technology is making enormous leaps after we found it, and it is only the tip of the iceberg. I want to see how deep the iceberg goes."

"Don't you mean 'rabbit-hole'?" Anderson said.

"Shit-hole is more like it." Hackett responded.

Glenn sat dumbfounded for a few seconds while the rest laughed. "I guess I am the laughing stock for today, eh?"

"You make it too easy. What about you Martin?" Anderson asked.

"Starship designer. At Phoenix works!" Everybody at the table looked at Martin. Phoenix works was the top design branch of the orbiting space station that now build all the star ships used for military purposes. After the Mars ruins where discovered, they were in continuing upgrading and ship replacing business.

"How did you land that job?"

"I was asked! No, seriously. I got a phone call about my thesis work, and they offered me a job on the spot! I accepted, naturally." Everybody looked at Martin with admiration. Being offered a job at Phoenix works was quite the accomplishment.

"Wow, congratulations. I guess you have the best deal from all of us." Hackett said.

"Yeah, I know."

"When do you start?"

"In a few days." Martin answered with a smile on his face. "I can't wait!"

"Good luck to you then." Anderson replied. "I guess Glenn gets to find the data, you get to use it, and Steve and I get to play with it. Sounds like a winning deal, don't you think?" Everybody got a smile on their face.

Hackett made a toast out of it. "To the deal!" Four glasses made contact, making a few distinct ping sounds.

The conversation continued for quite a while. Reminiscing about movies or online games was always a good way to spend the time. Coupled with family stories and some comments about nice ladies, the minutes became hours fast. Several beers on the table, and cola's for Martin later, Martin dropped the big question: "What do you think happened to the Protheans?"

The question made the table quiet for a few moments, before Hackett answered with "Who cares".

All eyes went to Hackett, and Martin retorted the statement. "If we don't know what happened to them, wouldn't we place ourselves in more danger? We have been to several planets, and have found nothing. No cities, no abandoned space stations, nothing."

"So, somebody wiped them out. How is that our problem?" Hackett retorted? Martin looked perplexed. He looked at Hackett directly.

"There are only 2 ways to end a war: you either made peace, and make it work, or one side destroys the others ability to fight completely, until they surrender, or die out".

Hackett remained calm. "And what does that have to do with it?"

"The Protheans where a type one civilization, probably well on their way to become a type 2. There is no natural disaster that can account for their extermination. That leaves war. Since they are gone, they obviously lost. But where are the conquerors? " The table was silent. All eyes were looking at Martin.

"I think you had a bit too much cola to drink." Anderson retorted, which got chuckles out of everybody. Martin was not so easily defeated.

"I am just saying. It is more than clear the Protheans met something they could not face. And if we are not careful, we might be facing the exact same thing. With the exact same result."

Glenn decided to pitch. "Normally I would be very glad to help you out in this, and I might even follow a good part of that logic, but unless we have proof of a dangerous enemy that kicked the Protheans ass, I am not taking sides on this one. Besides: The Protheans might just have ticked something or somebody off, and that got them killed. There is no guarantee that we would automatically do the same. If they had a war to fight, where has all the debris in space gone? Space battles generally leave a lot of junk." His logic was hard to beat.

That did not stop Martin though. "Maybe somebody cleaned it up." The comment had no bite, and no confidence. Glenn was right, there had to be evidence of a war. The Protheans where coming to their end some 50.000 years ago, yet that does not mean that Earth will befall the same fate.

"Why would a warring race care about cleaning after themselves? It does not make sense." Hackett said. "We clean up, but only after the war is over, and only in order to rebuild. If we don't need to do that, we just leave it. Enough evidence still on Earth from the second world war. And that was, what, about 130 years ago?"

Hackett had a point, and he knew it. He could see it in Martins eyes too. "I don't know." Martin said. "I just can't shake the feeling that we have opened Pandora's box here. That in the long run we only managed to kill ourselves with the mars ruins. Whatever managed to destroy the Protheans has to be more powerful than them. Or more numerous, or both. Add that to the possibility of 50.000 years worth of technological development, and we are screwed. Even if whatever defeated the Protheans where a slow species." He sighed. "And then there is the kicker. Why would they utterly destroy the Protheans, but leave their supposed technology of the hyperspace gates working?"

"That one is easy: that invention was useful. It significantly shortened travel between systems. Even a destructive enemy could see that." Anderson retorted. Martin was about to retort, but was interrupted by a beep from Hackett's wristcom.

"I have to go guys. I have to get to the Hong Kong. It was good to meet you all in person. We should do this again. Let's keep in touch!" He stood up, and shook the hands of his friend in sequence. "Good luck to you all." And Hackett left.

"I have to go too." Anderson stated. "I have to get to 'the villa' as they call it. It is in Rio de Janeiro, so I have a plane to catch." Glenn stood up together with Anderson.

"Me too, but first I have some preparations to do. I actually go to another planet, you know." he said with a smile.

"We might all do that at some point. But I do envy you a bit", Anderson retorted. "How about you, Martin?"

"I still have some time. Got some reading to do anyway, so I will stay here for now. It was good to see you all. Too bad you have to leave so soon. See you on the internet?" he said with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan. Stay safe out there guys, I would prefer to see you all again!" Anderson said, before he walked away, with Glenn in tow.

"Bye Martin!" Glenn said, quickly. Martin watched them walk away. It had something sad about it. Something final. They had all reached a crossroads in their lives, and from this point on, their careers where going to determine and interfere with the rest of their lives.

Martin sighed, still thinking about his Prothean argument. He had to admit, there were still a few holes in it, but the pieces fitted a bit too well. A gift of free technology? A gate leading to other solar systems, which where normally months away at maximum speed? Perfectly intact and working after thousands of years? _Maybe with the advances to come. Micro machinery maintaining them, or something_. But still he could not shake the feeling that something just did not sit right. He had the same conversation with several people, and it always ended the same. People where not interested in asking the questions, or even discussing the possibilities. Everybody was happy about the technological boost the Mars ruins provided.

"Why doesn't anybody want to know the answers to the obvious questions? Can't anybody see that this might bite us in the ass one day?" Martin muttered to nobody but himself. He activated his wristcom, and started his reading. Mood a tad more sour, now that not even his friends where interested in learning what he thought was paramount.

* * *

Wristcom: Short for Wrist Computer. An armband that houses a computer, using holographic technology as an interface. It is the future successor to today's Smartphone. The inspiration comes from the movie "Final fantasy - Spirits Within" that displays a similar device in the first few minutes. The wristcom is the forerunner for omnitools. It does not have the same capability, but is just a computer with variable holographic interface, integrated with communication equipment.

Gauss rifle: Will be introduced and explained later.


	3. Chapter 2 Hackett

**And here is chapter 2.  
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**The following chapters will set up my version of the ME universe, after which the main story starts. Chapter 2 is a personal chapter where we follow Hackett. **

**I stay as close to canon as I can, but i will change things i cannot fathom. One of these things is how humanity managed to go from zero to hero in 8 years, and how first generation space cruisers where instantaniously a match for the turians. Not forgetting that we managed to build over 200 in 8 years, next to space stations, and colonisations. I just dont buy it, so i rewrote the ME history a bit. **

**At the end of the chapter there will be some action, delving deeper into the person that is Hackett. My first action scene. :) Tell me what you think.  
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**Enjoy and review please.  
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* * *

**Chapter 2 - Hackett - 2156**

The history of human space travel was one lesson that everyone in the military, especially those with tactical positions, needed to learn and know. Everything that happened nowadays was the culmination of the combined history of space travel and combat.

Humanity had been expanding into space for about 100 years now. It started with Lunar and Mars missions, setting up small colonies, and developing the technology for long duration space travel. The earlier ships used rotating ring decks to create a sense of artificial gravity. For the longer trips, especially towards Mars and beyond, the chemical drives where often amended by large ion drives powered by either large solar arrays or small fusion reactors. These where deemed a lot safer in space than fission reactors, even though they still made a lot of heat. The earlier ships where therefore reminiscent of tubular lattice work vessels, where the reactor had a separate compartment, isolated from the main ship body.

Only when resources where discovered in asteroid belts and on the planet and moons in the solar system, did the development increase in speed. Chemical rockets where completely replaced by fusion torches, and the ships got larger and larger. With humanity now fully exploring its own solar system, stations and small work colonies where established wherever there where useful resources.

Combined with the development of space technology came the development of advanced analysis computer systems that allowed to process large amounts of survey and spectrum data to locate possible resources. It was through such system that the Charon relay was discovered, only that was after the Mars ruins discovery.

The research vessels where often repurposed old vessels, still using the chemical rocket-ion drive combo to get around the solar system. It was such a vessel that had discovered the Mars relics. The corporations where quickly updating their vessels, allowing for heavier loads and quicker turnaround times, in addition to faster journeys. It wasn't long until the ever present government and military pressure on the criminal underworld, especially the drug cartels, forced them to use the knowledge gained by the big corporations to relocate their main production facilities to space. Not long after that, the first raid was performed on the resource miners with devastating results.

That one event sent a shock trough the nations of earth. Governments where no longer the leading agencies in space by far, and where quickly outpaced by the drug cartels. This shocked the United Nations into action. 50 Years ago, around 2100, the most powerful nations combined resources and started producing space weaponry. The old treaty of 'no weapons in space' was upheld to that point, with only a few exceptions, but the cartel raid on the corporations rescinded that treaty. Space stations where build, and on them, the first warships. Most were equipped with missile technology and old fashioned Gatling guns.

After the first ships where established, they started hunting the cartels in Sol. Several skirmishes later, and both sides had learned a lot. Second generation ships where build, and those engaged each other in battle soon after. An arms race had begun. Although the governments had more resources and funding, the cartels used their resources in a more focused manner. It was not long until rail-guns and coil-guns made their appearance, as did nuclear weaponry. The space navy, affectionately known as 'starfleet' was born.

The discovery of the Mars relics had changed everything. Humanity not only now knew they were no longer alone in the universe, the technology that the relic displayed boosted humanities technological development by nearly 200 years. Not long after that, the Charon relay was discovered, using both the survey technology, combined with the knowledge gained from the Mars relics.

The Mars relics also nearly instantaneously turned the tide between the space navy and the cartels, as the space navy started upgrading its vessels with this new 'mass manipulation technology', quickly dubbed: 'the Mass Effect' by the media. And because the United Nations dictated that the technology should be tightly controlled, the cartels where quickly falling behind.

Just before the discovery of the Mars relics, one battle showed without a doubt that the latest Europe class cruiser of the pre-Mass-Effect navy vs. the cartels simply could not do an adequate job. Which prompted the development of a new cruiser class. As soon as the mass effect technology was available, it was integrated in this new Geneva class design.

* * *

The Hong Kong was one of these new Geneva class cruisers, equipped with 6 axial heavy mass effect canons noticeably flanking an angular hull. The barrels of the cannons run the ships length for maximum muzzle velocity. Each of the canons was capable of hurling a 1200kg projectile at the target every 6 seconds. The 6 canons allowed for relative rapid fire, especially compared to older ships. This was an innovation only found on the latest cruisers, as the older cruisers had only 1 or 2 main gun tubes, and could only fire ever 7.5 seconds using Mass Effect upgrades. Combined with various ammo types, the main guns were the Geneva class' biggest update over previous cruisers. The hull itself had all slanted angles, reminiscent of the old stealth military aircraft such as the F22 and the Joint Strike Fighter. On either side of the hull and the guns where large wing-like structures, which housed power systems, and heat management.

Around the main hull where powerful thrusters, giving the 600 meter vessel adequate maneuverability, especially since the mass of the vessel had increased significantly over previous designs. On the top and the bottom where two large turrets, which each housed a further 2 secondary guns, giving the ship a broadside fire capability with heavy ordinance. A scattering of small turrets and clearly visible missile hatches indicated close in weapon defenses, and the larger missile hatches indicated the space equivalent of torpedoes.

This was a ship build for one thing, using the lessons that humanity had learned, anywhere on the world and in space, over the past 150 years. It was a marvel of modern day technology, and the top of the line. It was humanities most powerful ship, the modern day equivalent of the WW1 British navy vessel Dreadnaught, and they were quickly replacing the older, now obsolete, cruisers. These where all delegated to support roles or converted to deep scout and survey vessels. At current, humanity had about 200 cruisers, capable of being deployed at any minute, supported by a large amount of destroyers, and frigates.

For the strike missions against other ships there where hunters, which where the equivalent of torpedo-boats, or fast-boats. Small vessels, loaded with an array of torpedoes, equipped with 4 large engines in an X-formation around a sleek hull. It would get close to enemy cruisers and strongholds, and fire its tactical nukes equipped with mass effect enhancements. In space, anything explosive that was less than a nuke generally was useless. The torpedoes where not only devastating, but shaped charges as well, designed to penetrate heavy ship armor. Target the right location, and the torpedoes could shoot a stream of nuclear explosion propelled molten metal all the way through the vessel.

The cream of the fleet where the space carriers. The equivalent of older super carriers on earth, these 1.5 km long vessels housed hundreds of fighters, fighter bombers, and drop-ships. Not up to shape for a close range match, carriers still possessed powerful close range weaponry, making it a real trouble for any projectiles, fighters and even hunter class vessels that were not supposed to be there. Against cruiser weaponry however, the carrier could only rely on its shields, due to the fighter bays being large holes in its armor. Carriers can engage cruisers, but only by firing easily interceptable torpedo barrages, or launch a fighter strike. Carriers where best used as in WW2, as ultra long range battleships, using fighters to deliver their ordinance. Although powerful up close due to its size, without direct cruiser support of its carrier group, a single carrier would be overwhelmed by cruisers in a short amount of time. Especially with the latest Geneva class cruisers, of which the Hong Kong was the latest example.

* * *

And Hackett was going to be part of her crew. Standing in front of it, he could only be in awe. The basic knowledge of the United Nations space fleet was droning through his head as he walked through the orbital shipyards towards the docking cradle of the Hong Kong. _It is quite a potent vessel, especially this close up. The cartels are going to piss their pants when they are forced to toy with one of these. I have to admit: I can't wait to see what this beauty can do._

It was known that the now very powerful interplanetary drug cartels had the capability of making their own starships, or modifying existing civilian versions. Cartel 'battleships' have been protecting smuggling lanes, and harassing ship lanes. The most advanced versions of these vessels are still jury rigged, but never the less are the equivalent of fully fletched destroyers. When employed in small groups, they actually managed to 'sink a cruiser' as it was portrayed. The space navy went into high gear, and pursued the vessels. That initial hunt was not successful. The mass relays and Mars ruins had not been found yet, and in system travel took weeks. Eventually they were destroyed by 2 separate actions.

The first destroyer, equipped with powerful shield enhancers, was taken out by 2 hunters protecting a convoy of mining vessels, showing the effect of reviving the old torpedo boat in spaceship form. The other engaged in a duel with the Europe class cruiser, flanked by a Tompson class destroyer. The destroyer got caught with its shield enhancers in the wrong direction, and did not survive the main volley of the smuggler vessel. The Europe class had 2 main rail guns, and captain Kastanie Drescher had a 4 hour slugfest with them. She won with trickery, luring the unknown destroyer to its own base, destroying both the destroyer and the base. This was quite the feat since the rail guns in the Europe class, before the mass effect technology was implemented, could only fire reliably every 35 seconds. The whole event was front page news worldwide. It got the captain promoted. But it also showed the Europe class cruiser as being inadequate. That one battle changed everything.

Hackett was still very young when that battle raged. The then newly promoted Rear Admiral Kastanie Drescher held an interview for the nightly news, and actually inspired him to join up when he was older. But he did not have the qualifications to join, so Hackett joined the infantry first. Used the service he did to let the military pay for his education. It paid off. He was going to reapply for starship service, when he got that fatal mission. The mission that left him scarred. But that was now behind him. He was going to enter this vessel, and make history.

He arrived at the docking tube, and saw a sergeant standing guard in front of it. "Lieutenant Steven Hackett, tactical. I am looking for the duty officer."

"Sorry sir, he is not yet on board. Are you new here, sir?" The sergeant did not miss a beat. He also never looked at Hackett once, but kept his eyes on the surroundings. _Always searching for that one threat that could compromise the ship. Good man._

"Yes sergeant, I was ordered to report to the duty officer for assignment as soon as I arrived, however I am a bit early." The sergeant gave him a quick once-over. _Probably looking for threats. Well, I think in can floor him if he asks nicely. _Hackett gave a tiny cocky smile, but knew damn well that engaging the sergeant would be a fight to the death. He was that type, or so he guessed.

"You can wait for him on the ship, sir. He should be here in a moment." The sergeant continued his look over the dock for possible threats.

"Thanks sergeant, carry on." Hackett still had to get used to that. Now that he had a rank of 2nd lieutenant he could do the 'superior thing', as he himself referred to it, to the lower ranks. Making himself feel a bit special, but also a bit smug. And he had not yet decided if he liked the feeling, or even, if he should. As being one from the lower ranks, he never liked that smug attitude of being something because of a bit of metal on your shoulders. But now that he had that bit of metal, it is hard to decide whether you should just accept it, or find your own way.

Hackett walked into the boarding tube, and onto the Hong Kong. He was instantly saluted by several marines standing guard at the entrance. _Always best to be vigilant. Present but never seen._ The line ran through his head. Here he saw what it meant. The sergeant out in front of the gangway was just there for show. The real defense stood here. _I guess the instructor was right._ As Hackett showed his papers and orders to the guards, he looked around the airlock, looking for what to do next.

"Sir, you can dump your luggage in your chambers, sir. The captain will be addressing the new crewmembers on the bridge in an hour. Room 324." The private in front of him hesitated for a second, before continuing: "Oh, right, I mean, deck 3, room 24, Sir." Hackett looked at the guard in front of him, handing him back his orders and papers. "Thanks Private." And Hackett made for the lift.

* * *

"My name is captain Ernst Lange, and I am lord and master on this ship!" The man walked back and forth, in front of a row of, _inmates,_ as Hackett thought, almost loudly. The captain could give the drill sergeant of Hacketts boot-camp a run for his money. But Hackett was no longer impressed by that shouting and chest pounding. After being in several firefights, shouting people just seem like a loud fart in a library. More irritating than anything else, and rather unmannered. His obvious German-English accent did not help convey the message either.

"You will speak only when _I_ tell you to! You might think you know enough to serve on _my_ starship, but let me be clear! _I_ determine whether you stay on board this ship or not! _I_ am the only person, besides your duty, that you should be concerned about! If you have a girlfriend at home, or feel like crying for _mama_, you do well to put those thoughts away until _I_ deem you worthy of reclaiming them! If you think you have something to add on my bridge, think again! You are here because I was _ordered_ to, understand? Do not think I _need_ you here!"

The speech kept on going. Hackett decided that he could not keep it in anymore, and let out a low, soft chuckle, while he carefully looked at the recruits standing next to him. Most were visibly impressed, or very disappointed at the scolding they received. Hackett was not. The captain noticed him chuckling immediately, and positioned himself right in front of Hackett. He had to admit, up close, the captain could be an impressive sight, if he so chose.

"Do you have something to add, 2nd lieutenant?"

"Yes captain" Hackett answered the challenge.

"Well, don't keep it to yourself, lieutenant!" Barely a second passed "I am waiting, lieutenant!"

Hackett summoned his chuckle to stop, but he could not. So he decide to chance it. _Answer a challenge with a challenge. Turn around any attack by making your enemy defend itself!_ The lines from the drill sergeant in basic ran through his head. "Permission to speak freely, sir!"

The captain did not wait to contemplate the answer: "Permission granted. Let's have it."

_Here goes nothing. _"Sir. I know that we are here upon your personal request. This ship just had its shakedown cruise with the dockyard personnel, and the final crew has not been determined yet. Without us, this ship does not have a tactical crew, sir. And you know that. Sir."

That was quite the challenge. Calling your superior officer an idiot and a liar was just not done. The chance that this would end with charges being filed was definitely there. The captain tried to remain stoic in the face of such a challenge, about to rebuke with a fury, but that was overruled by a single chuckle in a soft feminine voice from behind the captain. The Executive Officer, standing at attention behind the captain, could not hold it in. A forcefully restrained smile on her lips, she tried her best not steal the show from the captain.

* * *

Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander _Chiara_ _Moretti_ was observing the 'stock' of new crewmembers from behind the captain. Most were either rather disappointed or downright intimidated by the show the captain put up. She felt sorry for them on some level, but also knew the captain as a fair and honest man. He had his own way of maintaining order, and making sure the 'new-guys', as the captain called them, knew who was in command, was one of his first routines. Captain Ernst Lange was a strange man in many regards. She had learned much from him, among which that people all react differently under pressure. It is there where you can determine some of their priorities, and some of their character traits.

More than 15 people stood before her. She stood at attention, together with the rest of the bridge crew, making a show of the high level of discipline the captain apparently wanted to convey. She could only smile at the show though, because once you get to know Captain Lange, and know him well, you would go through hell and back for him. He cared for his crew, and helped them anyway he could. She was always inspired by the man, and really happy to be his XO.

Now she was silently observing the charade. One of her guilty pleasures. She let her eyes glide over the 15 recruits. Some of them already officers. One of them even had combat experience. The captain spend hours looking for good candidates, and knowing his talent for finding them, the recruits she was watching were all capable. The show should therefore not be needed, but that did not stop the captain.

_Poor people. Being shocked into your new post like that, it is kind off cruel._ Something caught her eye, while looking at the new recruits. One man was neither intimidated or disappointed. Looking at his eyes directly, he seemed.. _Amused!_ _He is seeing right though the charade._ She heard a soft chuckle come from the young 2nd lieutenant. The captain heard it too, and made his way to him. He challenged him to speak up. The young man challenged back. Hard.

"Sir. I know that we are her upon your personal request. This ship just had its shakedown cruise with the dockyard personnel, and the final crew has not been determined yet. Without us, this ship does not have a tactical crew, sir. And you know that. Sir."

_Ha!_ She thought, and felt a soft chuckle come up. _He knows._ She heard herself give one chuckle, just barely audible. She would never admit it, but the 2nd lieutenant had actually impressed her.

* * *

Hackett heard the soft female chuckle coming from the XO, and so did the rest of the line. Although the heads where still pointing to the wall behind the captain, the eyes were all fixed on captain Lange. It was silent for exactly 5 seconds, before the captain let it out too. "Ha. Hahahaha, you got balls kid! Well done on looking beyond the simple picture. You managed to impress my XO. In that, you are the first. Identify yourself, lieutenant!"

"2nd lieutenant Steven Hackett, tactical, captain." Hackett's mind was empty. What he did was incredibly stupid, and yet, the 'hammer' was nowhere to be seen. Captain Lange could no longer hold his face in shape, and the entire bridge crew seemed to have instantaneously lost their rigidity.

"Well done, mister Hackett. That was either incredibly brave, or incredibly _stupid_." Hackett looked at the man, a twinkle in his eye, his stance relaxed and warm. Inviting him to relax his own defenses.

"Yes sir, probably a little of both." The captain did not waste the retort however: "You apparently have the skill to attack when you are cornered already mastered. Very good. Now you just need to learn when to keep your trap shut, lieutenant!" The captains stance instantly turned back to commanding and intimidating.

Hackett was taken aback by that comment. His eyes widened for a few moments. There was the 'hammer' again. He might have taken the captain and the XO by surprise, but captain Lange was definitely not one to underestimate. _Shit. That was a tactical mistake._

"Yes sir." Hackett said, rigid as a board.

* * *

No scolding followed the rather blatant breach of protocol however. And after two days of doing shore duties, Hackett sat at his tactical station on the bridge. The captain had continued the introduction on the bridge after Hackett's counter challenge, but it had no bite left. Everybody in the line knew that it was faked, now that Hackett had broken the tension.

When Hackett later reported for his duty, the captain took him aside and gave him a private introduction to both himself, and Chiara Moretti. In the conversation that followed, both were kind and open minded. They even gave him the option of giving any suggestions for improvement he could come up with to the captain or the XO.

Now dressed in his standard ship uniform, he was waiting for the ship to cast off, and set course for Arcturus station to join the second fleet, commanded by the now Vice Admiral Kastanie Drescher. Hackett did hope to see her in person, but knew very well the chances of that where slim at best.

The uniform he wore now, with his signature rank on his shoulders was both a discipline statement in addition to safety equipment. The latest evolution of the uniform allowed the mass effect force field technology to be integrated with it. The field had very low power, and could only keep working for 60 minutes, but in case of decompression, it would save his life by encapsulating him in a force field. Subsequently, the uniform, together with several other approved clothing items, where now mandatory wear anywhere on the ship, and already saved lives.

"All hands, all hands, prepare to cast off." The captain said over the ship wide speakers. "All systems report!" he barked soon after to all the bridge stations.

"Helm is go"

"Navigation is go"

Now it was tactical's turn "Tactical is go", his commanding officer reported. Quickly checking his own panel, he saw that his direct CO was correct. _A bit too late to check your systems, Steve. Focus!_

"Sensors are go"

"Ship internal systems are go"

"Engineering reports green across the board! We are go."

"All systems go, captain" the XO stated. The captain was pleased.

"Helm, retract moorings, release docking clamps. Once clear, engage reverse thrusters, and ease us out the dock." Captain Lange had a relaxed voice about him, and a slight smile on his face. He was feeling the moment just as much as the rest of the crew.

_This is it, here we go. Arcturus station, here we come!_ Hackett lets his excitement get to him for a moment, but quickly reigns himself in. _Come on, grow up, will ya!_ But he could not deny the excited feeling he felt cropping up in his gut as the ship slowly slid out of the dock. _Oh, wow. Just... wow. Amazing._

"Helm, set a course for the Charon relay, engage FTL as soon as we have clearance from Houston.", the captain commanded. Although it was no longer required to have Houston as a primary hub for the vital mission support it provided for over 50 years, it was argued for sentimental reasons to let Houston be the space-traffic-control hub for earth orbit and local space. Although several countries in the United Nations wanted such a prestige for themselves, as in: located in their own countries, the majority agreed. They recognized the importance of Houston control to human space travel development of the past, honoring it with this gesture.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's see what this beauty can do. Line us up with the Charon relay and engage FTL." Captain Lange stood up and moved to a position behind the helmsmen.

_I guess he wants to see this up close. I can't blame him though. _Since tactical was in the back of the bridge, visuals were a bit limited from where Hackett sat. _I want to stand there too, but I guess this will have to do._ A soft hum started rising through the ship, signaling the charging of the Mass Effect core, and the engaging of FTL travel. A quick moment of vertigo, the moment the Mass Effect fields kicked in, and then the ship began accelerating quickly. In about 1.5 seconds, the moon passed by on the left, and then, all visuals where gone as the ship accelerated past light speeds. The Geneva class cruiser could definitely 'haul ass' as the marines called it.

The official top speed had not yet been set, but speeds in excess of 1.5 light years per hour were not uncalled for. Every time a ship went that fast, something new was learned, and Mass Effect core parameters where adjusted to allow for a bit more efficiency, and a bit higher top speed. However, all that speed had a downside. FTL using Eezo, the substance making it all possible, developed a static charge, which had to be caught and stored in the ship. This charge had to be discharged in an atmosphere or a station later on, otherwise the crew risked getting electrocuted to death. And the accumulation of this charge was a quadratic with speed. Double the speed, quadruple the drive charge per time unit. The top speed of the Geneva class was therefore more limited by the charge than the core.

It did not take long for the Hong Kong to make the relative short jump from Earth to the Charon relay. Hackett was still mesmerized by it. Captain Lange had seen all of this before, and was already back at his seat. He did however still have a small smile on his features, but that went unnoticed by Hackett. The tranquility was really getting to him. Unfortunately, things change quickly.

"Sir, I have a contact, destroyer size, baring 2-0-4 mark 1-1-0! It is coming directly at us! Energy profile suggest the ship is at battle stations!" The Hong Kong was out of FTL at the Charon relay for less than 5 seconds, before sensors detected the incoming destroyer.

"General quarters, prepare for battle! All hands to battle stations!" Captain Lange shouted. "Raise shields, and arm the weapons! Tactical, I want that ship locked tight. Give me a solution, now!" Hackett was taken aback by the quick change in demeanor of captain Lange, from calm and comforting, to uncompromising and intense in less than a second. It showed that Lange had quite some experience. He was in his element, but he did do things his way, and his stance made it clear. You either added to the situation, or you kept your mouth firmly shut.

"Helm, evasive maneuvers. Tactical, lock him up and fire using the turrets." Hackett was now hard at work trying to work out a likely flight plan for the destroyer. The order from captain Lange was still in the back of his mind, but the relative low speed of the fired projectiles, coupled with the high distances, meant that leading fire was needed. And you needed to know what the ship was going to do. Blind fire was usually not appreciated.

_Immelmann? High yoyo? Or a cobra maneuver?_ The ship was coming right at the Hong Kong, but it was clear that as soon as the Hong Kong fired, the enemy destroyed was going to evade the shot and keep charging. Hackett could not decide. _Maybe a jump and duck maneuver?_ So he fumbled at this station, and provided a fire solution for a direct shot, followed by a seconds shot a bit higher, to catch the ship when it used vertical thrusters to evade the shot. "I have a solution! Turret 1!" he shouted over the bridge.

"Fire at will!" the captain shouted at the lead tactical officer. The man looked at his screen, seeing Hackett's work. He had no time to debate it, but he was not impressed.

"Firing." he calmly said, and two shots could be heard, while the ship shook from the top turret firing. The thrusters tried to compensate for the kickback, but that was still not enough to dampen it all out.

"First shot is a miss, the destroyer evaded.."

_Ok, I expected that_

"...using a low yoyo."

_Shit! _

"Second shot is a miss." The tactical officer remained calm as he reported to the captain.

"INCOMMING!" the person at Hackett's rights shouted. The destroyer was now at relative close distance, and could return fire with ease.

"Helm, hard down!" the captain ordered, but it was too late. Loud explosions riddled the ship, one of them hitting the bridge section. A loud bang was heard, and smoke enveloped the tactical section, as the lights flickered out of existence. Alarm bells where blaring, and people where shouting frantically.

"Ship status?" captain Lange shouted over the chaos. "The shield enhancers where _offline_, sir! We have multiple hull breaches at deck 8 through 5, deck 2, bridge section, and turret 1 is out of action!" the engineering station officer shouted.

Hackett instantly looked to his right. People where slummed over their stations, remaining motionless. Their stations glowing a bright red. The standard procedure, only used with a training exercise to simulated dead crew members. But it did not register with Hackett.

"No.. no.. not again" he murmured in a very soft voice, as his eyes opened up wide, and adrenaline surged through his body. "Please no, not again.." _No, this cannot be happening, not now, not here.. _Hackett looked at his station and saw that half his station was yellow, signifying disabled systems. He could not help the ship from this position. He looked at the lead tactical officer, and saw that his station was all red too. _Dead. I'm the only one left._ Hackett looked over the bridge for options. On the other side, next to the helm, was another station, still intact, that could also acquire lock and fire the guns.

Hackett made his decision and ran over the bridge, taking everybody at surprise. He threw the able crewman out of his seat, and sat down in his place. One look at the screen and everything just clicked. He knew what he saw. _Rolling scissors._ The maneuver allowed the enemy ship close access while remaining mobile enough, and giving a cruiser difficulty keeping a lock on him with the main guns. But this was a Geneva class vessel, equipped with turrets for that very reason: to counter rolling scissor maneuvers.

Hackett did not wait for the captain to confirm, and with his command voice, honed while in command of a squad on the ground, he went into combat mode. "Helm, roll the ship to give me a shot with the number 2 turret. Keep her straight and level, and give me full reverse on my mark." Hackett's hands flew over the console, typing instructions into the computer.

"Captain?" the helmsman said to his left. Hackett did not hear it. He expected his commands to be followed to the letter, just like on the ground. His combat mode did not allow second guessing in his mind.

Captain Lange looked at Hackett's stance in the seat. The look on his face said murder, he was in tunnel vision combat mode, and that ship was going down. Lange took only a fraction of a second to make his choice. He was curious what this young green second lieutenant could do. "Do it."

The helm rolled the ship, keeping the bottom turret in line of sight with the destroyer. Hackett charged both the Hong Kong's 6 main guns, as well as the turrets. "Line the main guns up with the enemies trajectories, but keep the turret in his sight"

"Done." he heard from this left.

"Overriding safeties. Manual fire." Hackett said, still oblivious of his surroundings. He picked his shots precisely. "Firing turret!"

Two shots rang out trough the ship. The computer registered two direct hits at the engines of the destroyer. The enemy ship had its shield enhancers in the right location, but they did not cover the whole ship. The rounds impacted, and disabled one of the destroyers main thrusters, sending the ship in a tumble, as their helm officer tried hard to compensate for the damage.

"Helm, NOW! Full reverse!" Hackett bellowed. The captain, now standing next to the helm, keeping an eye on both the helm officer and Hackett gave a visible nod to the helm officer. Hackett did not see it. The intensity coming off of Hackett drew attention. Everybody on the bridge had their eyes on him, including the 'dead' bridge members. Something lit a fire under Hackett, and it was about to burn the enemy.

Hackett had his hand on the manual trigger, looking seemingly perfectly focused and calm at his screen, as the ship went into full reverse. The engine noise rumbled through the ship as the ship began to decelerate. The helmsman kept the main guns focused at the projected trajectory of the enemy destroyer. Hackett waited for the perfect moment.

"Salvo fire." he said, and a dampened bang, signifying 6 barrels firing simultaneously, bellowed trough the ship. The simulated bridge window, in place during combat to give the crew a sense of being able to look outside while the armor blast shields lowered into place to protect the bridge, displayed a smuggler destroyer getting hit by the 6 projectiles, and exploding in dramatic fashion. Simulated external sound, to add to the realism for the crew, sounded through the bridge. The invention allowed for better combat awareness, as space carried no sound.

"Direct hit captain, enemy destroyed." Helm reported to the captain.

Everybody was quiet, as everybody looked at Hackett as he slowly awakened out of his combat mode. Hackett started shaking from the adrenaline, as he turned around, looking at a stunned bridge crew.

"Stand down exercise." the captain said calmly, and crouched down next to Hackett. "Well done." he said calmly. "But what happened?"

Hackett looked at the captain, as he slowly got his body back under control. "I hesitated." was the only thing he could muster. "I hesitated, and the ship got hit. People died."

The captain just looked at Hackett for a while, studying his facial features. In the mean time, the smoke, used to heighten the drama during an exercise, was being vented, and crewmen got back to their stations.

"And now you have learned the golden lesson. If you are not all there, people die." Captain said calmly to Hackett, "I read about your combat experience. You got medals for your actions, but something tells me it was not that simple."

"No."

"We are a team on this ship, just as much as your squad on the ground was. If one is not his best, we all suffer." Captains voice was calm and reassuring, despite reading Hackett a lesson.

"Yes sir. ..I.. I know... Sir." was all that Hackett could say. It was an exercise. It had all been an exercise. But for Hackett it was much more. It was a failure. His failure.

"Go grab something to drink in the mess. Calm down a bit. We can handle it here for now." captain Lange said to Hackett, seeing his face darken. Hackett walked out of the bridge without another word. He had failed today, and he felt it.

Captain Lange walked over to XO Chiara Moretti. "If you want to know peoples character, either give them power, or put them under pressure." Lange said softly at Moretti. "Hackett has potential, but he also has baggage. Perhaps we should assign him some counseling."

Moretti thought about it for a while. She had been silent during the exercise, evaluating the different crew performances, as was her job per captains instructions. The surprise exercise is another of the quirks that captain Lange liked to pull on his 'new guys', to see what he had to deal with. This exercise had not been a surprise to those who served with captain Lange for longer. Captain Lange liked his exercises as realistic as he could make them. Including simulated deaths. It rattled people up when they experienced it the first time, just as he intended.

This was the second time that Hackett surprised her. "He corrected his earlier hesitation by shooting down the ship. His plan was nothing short of brilliant. And he did it while firing manually too."

"I know" the captain said softly.

"But I agree. He has.. issues he needs to solve. He needs help."

* * *

The after effects of the exercise where quickly cleaned up. The smoke, and some spilled coffee was all the real damage done. Clever usage of the Mass Effect field, combined with thrusters firing, to simulate the feel of ship board explosions, and the sound system with added smoke did the rest. The older crew performed the 'crew deaths' where needed, because they all knew what it was for.

Hackett sat in the mess hall, still feeling highly uneasy. The captain had let him down easy, he felt, but that was no excuse for failing his teammates. _Why am I feeling this? I am no longer on the ground. I am millions of kilometers away from Earth, doing a total different job. Why am I still this bothered?_ Hackett searched for answers, but found none. He grimaced.

"All hands, this is the captain. Prepare for Jump Gate transit. I repeat: Jump Gate transit in 30 seconds." Hackett looked up at the speaking in the ceiling. His place was at the bridge. He could not fail his people, his team, again. He stood up, put the coffee cup away, and walked to the bridge. He sat down at his station, only a few seconds before the ship made the jump through the Charon relay, to Arcturus.

* * *

Shield enhancers: will be introduced later

Jump Gate: Mass Relay. It can be argued that before humanity knew of other species, that they had other names for common phrases, such as Mass Relay. After humanity became part of the galaxy as a whole, the translators translated the alien equivalent of Jump Gate to Mass Relay. Humanity adopted the term soon after.

Specific named maneuver: All except one of them actually exist in aerial dog fighting. In space it would be a bit different, since you need to compensate for the Newtonian physics, but I still think they can be used. Only the jump and duck maneuver is made up by me. The rest of them can be found on Google.

'Jump and duck maneuver': It is a space-borne maneuver where the ship uses his vertical thrusters to either move the ship directly upwards or downwards to evade a canon shot. This way, the vessel can keep his main guns aimed at the target, while still evading the shot. (not a real maneuver, I made this one up.)


	4. Chapter 3 Anderson

**Hello everybody. Third chapter. Lots to explain about the armed forces this time. And a bit of Anderson too.  
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**Feel free to review, i won't bite. :)  
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* * *

**Chapter 3 - Anderson - 2156**

"Welcome in 'the Villa', ladies and ladies. My name is Senior Instructor Major Hans Johnson." His gruff voice roared though the large shed behind a beautiful old mansion that had become the new head quarters for a training complex. Anderson had arrived two days ago, and had settled in. The first day of training gave him a tour of the facility, and an introduction to the different people he had to deal with. Also paperwork and a doctors examination where part of the introduction. Today they would get the first day of actual instruction.

"Let me give you an idea of what the N7 school is. About 6 years ago, we found our little 'gift from the heavens' on Mars." Major Johnson said, complete with finger quotes. "This propelled our technology by at least 200 years, but also made us realize that we were not alone out there. Whoever or whatever happened to the last survivors on mars, could very well be happening to us in the future! Which means that our divided planet would become easy pickings."

_That is the fourth time now. _The bored expression on Andersons face clearly visible for anybody to see. _Four times that I hear the same bloody boring introduction of the start of the Alliance. I would think they would have come up with a better introduction to this place. You know, maybe something in Spanish or something._ Anderson had trouble following the instructions and the blathering of the Major. Since this was an informal meeting, Anderson decided to look around in the line of people he was standing in. In total there were 35 soldiers in this class alone. But if the recruitment posters where any indication, that was not going to last.

Most of the people standing here were male. Coming in a variety of body sizes, all of them had most likely seen action in the field, and therefore probably had a good amount of experience. Although he had been on the base for 2 days, he had not actually met and spoken with anyone yet. Most of them arrived per bus this morning. Since they had been on the base longer, they were given leave because the training was going to start today.

A few of the people in the line where female. Most of them where, as some soldiers called it 'males with boobs'. Women with a gruff look, some with scars, that where definitely not to be messed with. Anderson quickly looked if there was anything to look at, and he noted that some where quite good looking, despite the gruffness. All of them looked determined to do this, however. Making Anderson note that any of them could definitely become a good commando.

Next to Anderson stood a man that was a complete head taller than him. The towering man was also a good end broader, and was build like a bodybuilder. _Let's not piss him off. Looks like he could beat me in an arm wrestling contest._

Finally, Anderson decided to listen to Major Johnson again. "...And in late 2149, the Alliance council was formed. Tasked with setting up a combined governmental front to deal with any space related business like: colonization, militarization, and protection of Earth and its colonies." _I know that! Multiple times, in fact._

"All right, ladies. That's the introduction into the Alliance. Now, let's start what you came here for." Major Johnson began to walk back and forth before the recruits. "You are all aware of where you are. What you are not aware is how this place came to be."

"After the Alliance was formed, lots of useless and boring talks began about how to organize the military front. And since they were politicians, and not _soldiers_, it did not take long before the whole endeavor started to sink into a festering shithole filled with chest pounding and finger pointing. The topic was, of course, who had the best military to base this little thing on. Particularly the USA and the then newly formed United States of Europe thought they should take the cake. But China and even Russia began to bicker about that. Not long, even countries with lesser military capabilities began to interfere."

"A certain Dutch guy, some politician somewhere, which means his name is unimportant, came up with an idea." The spoken resentment towards politicians was getting chuckles throughout the assembled recruits. Anderson was a bit more open minded, and was aware of the needed balance between the two. Being friends with history nuts clearly reminded him that too much of both will help neither, nor the people.

"He suggested that the whole deal should be started from scratch. That every military that wanted to take part of it should demonstrate its best units, its best training, for review. And that quality, not quantity, or patriotism, should decide which part to take for this new branch of armed forces. And that it should be determined by a panel of both scientists and military personnel, with backgrounds coming from each of the participating countries." _Quite the compromising solution_ Anderson smiled.

"That worked surprisingly well, as the resulting mesh of tactics and styles now provide the Systems Alliance armed forces with the best military Earth had ever seen." This was no lie. Alliance personnel had been called on several occasions to deal with hot spots, and the mixed military arts style played a major role in the victories that followed. Making headlines around the world.

"But when it came to special forces, things changed. Although every country had definitely a good special forces branch, not one of them was superior to the other. Just different. The focus was in specialization of the threats at hand. It was determined that this would not do for the Alliance, since specialized soldiers could not be called in on the other side of the galaxy. So the Alliance military personnel wanted universal trained, all round specialized soldiers." _Solid reasoning. But that would mean the training would be broad._

"And so we arrive here. A new set of commando's is being trained here. Here, we have no specializations. No one country doctrine. You learn the best skills developed in _every_ country, during _every_ battle." Major Johnson emphasized with his right fist shaking in the air.

"There are 7 tiers in N7 school. Each is harder than the one before. If you think toughness is needed to survive, _think again_! Only the best _all round_ soldiers are going to come out on top here. We are not looking for people that can shoot. We are _looking_ for people that can _think!_"

"Every time you pass a tier in skills, you advance one level higher, up to level 6. The 7th is only available for when you apply those skills in actual combat. A mission, specifically possible because of your skill sets, nothing else."

"Don't think this will be easy. Each tier is harder than the previous. But when you arrive at tier 6, you will be versed in: insurgency, counter insurgency, bomb making (yes, including Nukes!), bomb disarming, short and long range shooting, stealthy movement, basic hacking, jamming, interrogating, hiding in plain sight..." This list kept going on and on. Anderson was actually impressed. N7 school was definitely not for the simpleminded brutes. Next time he would be on the battlefield, armed with this knowledge, he was going to be a force of nature. Andersons resolve peaked. _I. Will. Finish. This._

* * *

The initial introduction took several hours, and the Major said everybody had to go get some lunch. After lunch time, there would be another lengthy introduction into weapons and armor. The big man standing next to Anderson in the initiation of the Alliance briefing was close on his heels.

"You need something?" Anderson said to the man, who was getting into his personal space. And that was something Anderson only allowed during battle or with friends.

"I read about your actions against the Southern cartel. You supposedly took down the Nigeria cell." The man said more challenging than Anderson originally expected.

"I was part of that operation, yes." Anderson looked at the man. "Why do you mention it?" Anderson's tone was neutral, but his stance was getting more and more hostile.

"I heard you let a lot of people die." Was the blunt answer. Anderson eyes shot open in surprise for a fraction of a second, before letting anger overcome him a bit.

"What is it to you?" Anderson replied. Although he had no real lingering mental scars of the battle, it was a fair and almost honorable fight, people he worked with closely still lost their lives. And he was determined to honor their memories by following the N7 school. "And I would choose my words very carefully from this point on." His fist where clenched tight. _He_ did not let anybody die. Some people just cannot be saved.

"Did you try to save them?" The man looked at Anderson with a defiant stance. Anderson was taken aback with that one question. A few days ago he said to the 'Band' that he could not, because he did not know how. That was the main reason he was here. Being challenged about the event did not help.

Anderson was going through options in his mind, his emotions playing on his face, on how to react to this. Combat situations are always complex, but the answer was a 'no'. Anderson now had the attention of all the 35 other people, including Major Johnson. Finally, a flair up of anger won over shame and sorrow.

The speed at which Anderson moved surprised even himself. The man had been moving in Anderson's personal space, meaning that he was close. Anderson made one step forward, and before he could react, he planted his knee deep into the man's groin. All the men in the group watching instantly contorted their faces in feigned pain, and the challenger doubled over on the floor. Anderson's voice became ice cold as he kneeled next to the man.

"I heard you lost your ability to produce offspring. Did you try to save them?"

Nobody moved or spoke. Anderson quietly waited for the man's response. The group surrounding the two waited with him, but the man on the floor could only groan in pain.

This was not a fight, because that would have been broken up, a prerequisite between two people who were trained to kill. This was one man making a point. And everybody in the group who had seen combat knew what the man meant.

Anderson stood up, and walked towards the mess hall, while the unknown challenger, build as a body builder, lay in fetus position on the ground. Major Johnson stepped in line besides Anderson. "Let's not do that again, Corporal, or I will have you on cleaning detail." The man was silent for a few seconds, and added: "On a personal note: Nicely done." And he walked off.

* * *

The lunch went by uneventful. Anderson was staring at an empty tray of a lunch that had almost classified as food. The rations being served at the base, where not encouraging for a healthy appetite.

Anderson was staring at the table in front of him when several soldiers joint him at the table. He looked at the 4 men for a while, each looking rough around the edges.

"Not that I mind seeing a jerk-off bodybuilder with shit for brains squealing in the sand like a pussy, but I have to ask, what the fuck was that about?" One of the guys said. The man had a friendly face, with a scar on the left side of his chin. The colorful language suggested a raw personality. Likable, but not for official social gatherings. And then there was his voice, that sounded like he had breathed several hands of sand.

The 4 waited patiently for Anderson to react to the question. He looked them all in the eyes for a few moments, and sighted. "I don't know who that guy was. But he was pissing on the graves of good soldiers. Making it look like it was my fault they died. I... " He sighed again. "I could not let that stand."

"Brutal?" The gruff man asked, putting two and two together.

"Not really. I would even go so far as to call it an honorable fight. But they were with more. They had fire support, and heavy machine guns. We only had our armor and a few assault rifles." Anderson started to study a knot in the wooden table. "They let us carry out our dead and wounded. They did not fire on the medics. We could have been wiped out in a matter of minutes, but they..." Anderson swallowed "..didn't."

"He said something about Nigeria?" another soldier said. "Wasn't that cell wiped out?"

"Yeah, 4 weeks later. By then we had half of the company left. We took them out with napalm, and high explosives. Killed them like dogs. A sentiment they did not return."

The 4 men looked to each other, apparently not an answer they expected. "They where cartel members. They probably killed thousands just with their actions alone. If we take their product into account, that number would rise a lot." One of them said. The gruff man added: "Fuck them. If it was me, I would have barbequed their corpses and called a feast on their flesh. Fuckin' pussies."

Anderson gave the man a strange stare. "If we treat everybody like that, than who would be the good guys, eh?"

"Good guys? Fuck your fuckin' lame-ass good guys. They are criminals, dealing in poison, killing more in a day, than any of us in our damned lifetime. Making them fuckin' worse than terrorists. At least the terrorists are gone once they blow themselves the fuck up. Those cartel jack-asses give the same amount of death every day, and you want to fuckin' hug them and guide them to prison? Are you fuckin' nuts?"

Anderson tried to listen to the lines between the curses. The man made a point. He wasn't done however.

"And what the fuck kind of difference does it make? They are still dead. Might as well fill your belly with their flesh. If you don't, the worms will. And I don't own no fuckin' worm nothing!"

Now everybody at the table looked at the gruff soldier. "Damn, Winslow. Don't tell me you actually started.. " the man gasped ".. doing that?" he finished with a disgusted face.

"Hahahaha. I guess I got you pussies on the wall eh? Nah. I would not do that. Waste of my good health and sanity. But I tell you: there is no fuckin' good or bad. There is dead, and not dead. Being a soldier is about killing your enemy before he kills you. No excuses, no morals. Just death." He smiled in confidence, as if he could feel he was right, no matter what anybody said.

Anderson was not going to agree with that. "I guess the soldiers guarding the death camps in World War 2 would agree with you. If I remember correctly, those that did survive, were hung for such a notion." He paused for dramatic effect. "Being a soldier for me is not only about protecting your country, or following orders. It is about doing the right thing for the right reasons."

"Oh, that is fuckin' rich! Hahahah. Do you _hear_ what you just said? 'doing the right thing for the right reasons'? Hahahah." the man was holding his belly in mocked humorous laugh, before he suddenly got serious again. "Listen, idiot. You are a soldier. You kill for a living, no matter what you say to yourself. You are not out there to protect the people, you are out there to _kill_ people. That gun of yours does not shoot flowers or happy thoughts. It shoots fuckin' bullets. Anybody that receives the message you spread, will die from it. _That_ is what you are. A legalized killing machine."

"No."

The man huffed. "Don't fuckin' kid yourself. I can see why you are here. You are here to learn how to protect your soldiers. But you got it wrong kid. You are here to kill better. The moment you see that, your fragile fuckin' illusion in your head might implode, but at least you would not be living in a damn fantasy." Wilson voice was gruff but clear. He believed in what he said, and held himself to no illusions.

"Any moron can fight. Any moron can shoot. But I am not here to shoot better, I am here to learn how to shoot, where to shoot, _when_ to shoot." Anderson realized he sounded contradictory to his statements. Quickly he added "You are right. I am a soldier. I am trained to kill. But I am not trained to _murder_. I want to know how to make the enemy surrender as quickly as possible, with as little casualties as possible. I see it as my duty to protect. Not just my soldiers, but everyone. My people, civilians, and even the enemy. I don't care why they are shooting. It is my job to make sure they stop."

"And you think you are going to learn that here?" Another voice said from behind. Anderson looked around, and stared in the face of Major Hans Johnson.

"Sir."

The man had a curious look on his face. "I have literally seen every type of soldier, on every kind of battlefield. And let me tell you what _I_ learned: A average soldier will shoot when he is told. A good soldier will know when to shoot. But only a truly great one will know when _not_ to shoot." He looked Anderson in the eyes. "I don't know if you are going to learn that here, Corporal. Some lessons can only be learned with experience. The private is right. Here we teach you to kill better, longer, more and faster. But don't let that deter you. Find your balance, your right and wrong. As a soldier, that is one of the few life lines you have to sanity."

"Yes sir."

* * *

After the lunch, everybody was directed to a shooting range between several small hills. In the valley, they had long and short fire ranges setup, allowing for long and short distance weapon training. The group was directed to a long table, where several items where laid out to display.

"All-right ladies. Today we are going to introduce you to the weaponry, armor and other equipment you will be using in the field. This equipment will be closer to you than your spouses, if you even have them. And since I don't like repeating myself, I suggest you _all_ pay attention this time!" Major Hans Johnson looked at Anderson and several others. _Shit, I guess he noticed my bored look earlier._ Anderson chuckled softly.

"The first item on the list is the trusted M-2103D. This trusted handgun is not for the faint of hearted. Using coils to further accelerate the bullet while in the muzzle, it is one of a very few handguns that can actually hurt modern day armored soldiers. However, don't get your hopes up, you still need to hit the individual at certain locations to actually hurt them." Johnson had picked up the weapon to show it to everybody. "It has a muzzle velocity of mach 2.3, and a 15 round clip. It uses modified bullets to allow for the coil acceleration. It can fire standard ammo, but only at the slightly supersonic speeds. Thankfully, when using the right ammo, this thing is also equipped with recoil dampeners and recoil redirection. Making sure your hand stays attached to your body, and your aim roughly at the target."

He walked back to the table and picked up the assault rifle. "This is the standard commando assault rifle. Somebody smart decided that a bullpup design was actually a smart idea, and one of the most clever of these guns was the old P-90. And since it is a better idea to steal something than come up with it yourself, a good amount of the P-90 secrets where used in this design. This gun has an impressive magazine which holds 65 bullets." He picked up a long straight magazine that had rounds in it. "This, combined with a longer barrel, wrapped in coil gun technology, allows for a round that hits mach 6. Thankfully this lovely rifle is also equipped with recoil dampeners and kinetic redirectors, or otherwise you would break your shoulder and be aiming at the sky in one shot." He cocked the handle, and loaded the weapon. Everybody watched silently as he then proceeded into a combat stance, and shot at a few of the targets down range.

"This weapon is more advanced, and more powerful than anything the army has. It is about the same weight, has a rate of fire of 600 rounds a minute, and a maximum range, with scope, of 950 meters with a grouping within 10 cm. At least, _if_ you can shoot at al. _You_ will call your assault rifle 'honey', 'darling' or any other cozy name you can come up with. The rest of the world calls it the H&K G253. It was so successful that they gave it a nickname: 'The Knocker'. Why? It was so powerful, that the first versions knocked not only the enemy out of the game, but the shooter as well. Thankfully, improvements have been made since, but the name stuck."

Anderson looked at the rifle while the Major put it back on the table. He had experience with the successor to the American M16 variants, but that could only do mach 4 with the rounds, and was not a match for modern day armor. Basically that meant that in order to kill your opponent, you had to shoot a high amount of rounds in that individual. _This will be a nice improvement on my M390._

"Next item on the list, is my personal favorite!" Major Johnson picked up a meter long rifle from the table. "The CheyTac M560, nicknamed the 'Gauss gun'. Now, any smart person in the audience will note that every military rifle is a Gauss gun nowadays, but nobody seemed to care. With this gun, people started to notice, so it got the name. This, ladies and ladies, is the world's _first_ handheld element zero enabled gun. It is the single most powerful carried gun in human history. It fires a 5 mm projectile, at speeds in excess of mach 9. Its range has not been determined yet, since the human eye, even with enhancements, simply cannot see accurately enough at the distances they are measuring now. The rough human maximum distance is around 15 kilometers. Using a machine, they have reached ranges of well over 50." Some soft 'wow's could be heard, while others showed surprise on their face. The Gauss gun was a public secret, and greatly respected. But rarely anybody had seen them up close, the technology and the weapons where tightly controlled.

"This element zero in the Gauss gun allows for a few added perks. It uses the mass decrease property to help propel the projectile to high speeds. At the end of the barrel is a mass effect field inverter unit. This allows for the projectiles mass to increase after it is done accelerating." _So you fire a small bullet with virtually no weight, but as soon as it's speed is up to mach 9, it exits the bullet as a heavy round. Nice._ Anderson pondered as the Major continued.

"The mass effect field inverters have a maximum setting, simply labeled '12'. At this setting, this weapon could shoot straight though a main battle tank that is not equipped with shields." Again, everybody looked in awe. "But don't get your hopes up. The weapon has a downside. The higher the setting you chose, the higher the perceived mass of the projectile is. But that coincides with a higher Mass Effect field strength which bleeds off during the flight. This means, ladies and ladies, that you will leave a blue wake trail when you fire this rifle at higher settings. The higher the setting, the brighter the trail. It also means that you lose perceived weight per distance traveled by the projectile. Currently it is 2.5 km for 10 percent charge." The intensity could be read from everybody's faces.

"I hope you remember this, ladies and ladies! The moment you forget it, and fire at a tank, they will kill your pretty little hideout next. Not very good for your daily mood." _Noted. Do not fire the weapon at high charge, and expect to be invisible._

The Major moved over to the armor. "Next item on the list. The armor. This thing can either save your life, or cause you to die quicker. There is no third alternative, so pay attention!" Everybody got a glare.

"This. Suit. Does. Not. Make. You. Immortal!" Emphasizing each word with a index finger impacting the rigid material of the armor. "That goes double for you, marines!" The Major joked. The people chuckled along.

"This armor is the latest available. It will stop a few shots from the G253, if they strike you square in the chest, but that is about it. Even with this suit on, your best bet is not to get hit in the first place. The suit also augments your strength and stamina, by taking the load of your back. The full body suit can perform a blend, meaning it can scan the surroundings and project its contents on the armor, allowing you to appear stealthy. It definitely works from a distance, just don't expect anything up close."

"It comes also equipped with a slot allowing an Intuitive Artificial Intelligence to be inserted in the suit. This allows a greater battlefield awareness and accuracy. We will train with both the IAI installed and removed." The major walked to the last item on the table.

"You are all probably familiar with this." Indicating a small spray-can he held up in his hands. "This is Regeneration Foam, or Reg Foam for short. When you receive wounds, either in training or in combat, this stuff will save your life. It will disinfect the wound, and stop any bleeding for a sort while. It will allow you to fight on a bit longer before needing medical help. It will also allow for faster healing, as it stimulates local growth. So keep this with you at all times."

"Today, you are going to get an opportunity to learn and familiarize yourself with each of these tools, ladies and ladies. I suggest you do it well and thorough, because they will become your greatest hope of coming back alive!"

* * *

Anderson spend most of his time toying with the Gauss gun. He had fired it a few times, at different settings, even obliterating a small sand heap at the highest setting. He was quickly starting to like this gun. It lay now before him on the table in components, while Anderson was studying each part to understand what it did. He did not see the bodybuilder sitting down on the opposite site of the table.

"Nice little speech you held during lunch." He challenged.

"Too difficult for you to follow?" Anderson retorted. He was not feeling like a match, but he was also not going to bow down.

"You are pretending to be quite the hero, but I think you are full of shit. The moral soldier wants to learn when _not_ to shoot." He mocked. "You are pathetic."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I am actually willing to learn from my mistakes."

"How can you sit here so smug, feeling good for yourself, while so many people died in Nigeria?" The man challenged again.

"You must really have a love-hate relationship with your balls, because the last time I checked, you still walked slightly bowed over." Anderson looked him in the eyes for a second. He decided that he needed more info. "And why all the interest in Nigeria?"

"My brother died there. Killed by friendly fire, or so they said." The man looked pissed.

"And you think I am responsible for it, simply because I was there? Who the fuck are you, by the way?" Anderson had about enough of the man.

"Kago." He was quiet for a few moments. "And yes. You were the only one that carried the type of gun that fired the bullets that were found in his body."

And then it daunted on Anderson what, and who, this Kago was talking about. There had been a man shot with a rifle similar to his own, but he died when a cartel sharp shooter used a military rifle to shoot at targets. "It wasn't my rifle. The enemy had managed to steal a few, and were using them against us."

"Bullshit, we both know weapons are disabled if anybody ever lost their own." The stance in the man became more aggressive.

"I have no answers for you. But if you ever again suggest that I shot your brother, your balls will be the least of your problems, understand?" Anderson said in a calm and controlled voice. The one he always used when he issued threats and meant them.

Kago reeled back slightly from the tone Anderson spoke. Both knew instantly that this was a final warning, and not an idle threat. He stood up, and looked at Anderson one more time. "Perhaps. But I will keep my eye on you. Consider yourself watched. If you ever do something wrong on the field again, I will kill you." Kago said in subdued voice. "I will avenge my brother."

Anderson just calmly looked at him. "If you want to kill me, you will have to beat me first. And I don't know who was your brother that died in Nigeria, but I know I will morn his loss more than yours." And he went back to his Gauss rifle. Not paying the man any more heed.

* * *

Reg-Foam: The precursor to Medi-gel.

Intuitive Artificial Intelligence or IAI: The IAI is more capable than a VI, but is not self aware or sentient in any way. It has the ability to learn and record preferences, almost becoming an intuition for the soldier, by relaying information about other team members, targets, firing solutions, sniper calculations, possible enemy attack strategies and tendencies, etc. It can communicate via laser link, radio link, and even visual interpretation. This technology is the precursor to a fully fledged AI, however, that technology is not yet available. IAI's are seen as AI's by the council, making the alliance switch to the less capable VI's once the treaties are signed. The Alliance however just re-labels most of them VI's and continue to use them.


	5. Chapter 4 Martin

**Life got in the way of writing this forth chapter, so it was delayed a bit. But, here it is.  
**

**I have added 2 movie quotes, just for the fun of it. Anybody who finds them, gets a cookie :)  
**

**Next chapter will be short, and then the main story can start.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Martin - 2156**

_Almost there. Almost there. I am almost there._

The shuttle bringing Martin de Krijger to Apollo station in orbit around the earth was moving at a slow pace. Waiting for other shuttles to exit the large docking bay, Martin was leaning against the window, watching the large orbital station approach.

Apollo station was the first of 7 large space stations orbiting the Earth. It was strategically placed halfway between the moon and Earth, to avoid casting too large a shadow on Earth for too long and to prevent the station from interfering with the orbits of satellites. It started out as a hub between deep space and Earth transit vehicles, allowing smaller craft to load ore from the mining vessels. When the cartels proved a threat, they converted the station to shipyards and defensive positions. Now the station carries a hefty amount of weapons, thick armor and more shield enhancers than strictly needed. Even though several attempts have been made to disable the shipyards, the shields and armor has never been breached yet.

When Apollo station was well established, they included a closed off section where Phoenix works was located. They made and tested new ships and designs in that hangar. _And I am going to be part of it._ Martin watched as the shuttle finally moved into the large hangar, and softly landed next to a frigate.

"We are here, sir", the pilot stated. Martin just looked at the man, a bit dazed from the realization that this was really happening. He quietly nodded, and stepped of the transport shuttle. Walking towards the transit elevator, he looked around. A large amount of shuttles bringing people and supplies to the station, all unloaded in this hangar. There were several of these along the length of the station, but most of them where in use by the military.

While entering the transit elevator, a synthesized voice sounded through the elevator. "Please state your destination." Old elevators had buttons, but with the size of the station, a voice and touch interface was deemed more useful.

"Phoenix Works docks, please".

"Elevator in transit", the voice answered, as the transit elevator started moving. Due to the size of the station, the elevator would take almost 5 minutes to reach its destination. Martin looked out of the window, seeing people move by, as the elevator moved passed other stops.

* * *

"Destination reached. Have a nice day." the synthetic voice spoke, as Martin got out of the elevator. He walked to the front desk, while quickly stealing glances at the thick and secured doors that lay behind the secretary. "Can I help you?" the secretary finally asked, as Martin reached the counter.

"This is my first day at work. I am here for my introduction talk with Ms. Hyland?" Martin asked, a bit unsure and very nervous.

"Of course, just wait over there, I will give her a call." The secretary started her call for Ms. Hyland, while Martin took place on a leather seat, opposite of a window which gave a full view of Earth rotating underneath Apollo station.

Looking upon Earth was still a rarity for most of the people on Earth. Even though humanity had become a space faring civilization, vacations in space where a rarity due to the now militaristic nature of the space stations. Several companies tried to set up resorts on Luna and on Mars, but once the new experience of being weightless or in the reduced gravity wore off, most people got bored quickly on a location where nobody could breath outside the compound or station used for the vacation. Sightseeing tours to Earth orbit still existed, and actually flourished. The short term entertainment provided by a shuttle ride was perfect to combine the beautiful view of Earth from space, and the experience of weightlessness.

"Enjoying the view?" a voice from behind Martin said with not a bit of pride. Martin bolted around, actually a bit startled by Ms. Hyland.

"Yes. I am. I have only seen Earth like this on a shuttle ride my parents organized when I was little." Martin watched the lady move closer to him. She was nicely dressed, and ready for the meeting. She was at least 20 years older than Martin, but still very presentable. He could see she saw his unease, and she gave him an innocent smile. "I am Martin de Krijger. It is nice to meet you."

"Ulla Christine Hyland. Nice to meet you, Martin. I can say Martin, can I not? I prefer Christine."

Martin extended his hand, and she shook it. "Ready to go?" She asked. Martin just nodded, with a nervous smile on his face.

"Let's start by giving you a quick introduction into Phoenix Works." She said, while motioning him to follow her into the closed off section, after giving him his badge. "We have been operating out of Apollo station for close to 20 years now. It took some doing to actually get situated here, especially since it is a military station. However, the constant security breaches on Earth combined with the cutting edge all-military work we do, made this a perfect location. Finally the military agreed, and now we work closely with them."

They walked around a corner, showing a large hangar with several projects going on at the same time. "Most of the work we do is classified, but since you have basic knowledge clearance of most the projects here, you can walk all around the compound. There are a few sections that are completely off limits of course, but with the 5 large open hangars we operate out of, you can walk through 4 of them. Ironically, you will be working in the fifth, but I will get back to you later on that."

The windows in the corridor showed a hangar that had several shuttles, drones and fighter planes in them. At the end, close to the door was a hunter. Christine saw Martin stare at the end of the hangar. "That is the Hydra class hunter. She is here for an engine, mass effect core and shield upgrade. The scientists have made some impressive breakthroughs in the last few weeks. And we have the honor of testing them." She said with a smile on her face. _I don't know who she is, other than her name, but I think she actually likes being around the machines and the tech._

They walked on through the corridor stretching four hangars, on their way to the fifth. When passing a small kitchen, Christine offered a cup of tea. "Sorry, we have no coffee here. The machine just broke."

Martin smiled softly. "No problem. I prefer tea anyway. Strawberry, if you could, please."

Martin looked around the small kitchen area. He saw 2 engineers having a conversation about a problem they were facing, and starting listening in.

* * *

"You assume that the fluid can be compressed enough to fit through that space. But it will only do that under high heat. At lower temperatures, the cooling fluid is too viscous. It will create extra drag. It will result in shockwaves, turbulence, back pressure, everything. It will rip the system apart."

"No, it will not. I have done the math. It can work if we extend the length of the pipe to allow the fluid enough time to settle."

"The flow won't settle. Due to the viscosity, you won't have a flow. It will behave like syrup in a fridge."

"I am not convinced. Yeah, there will be some back pressure, but the increase in pressure will also increase the temperature. It will only be for a few moments, and then the system will even out. We can use the extra space this gives us for the hydraulics and the support systems."

There was a short pause in the conversation, as one of the engineers closed his eyes and started thinking hard. "No, no. Your 'r' is too small, Josh."

Josh sighed. "Are you sure? Isn't there a quick way to test for this? It took me 3 weeks the come up with this solution."

* * *

Christine put her hand on Martin's shoulder as the conversation continued. Martin looked over at a smiling face, and an extended cup of tea. "Come on, they will be like that for a few hours." Martin chuckled at that, and followed Christine.

"The last hangar, hangar 5, is where you will work. We have a special project going on that could use the research you performed for your thesis work, in reusing the heat of a starship for power generation?"

Martin smiled at that. He knew they were after his research. So much so, that right after he got his work done, it got classified immediately. Something rather unheard of, but with the militaries problems with the cartels, that actually made sense. Technology like this could give them an edge in remaining undetected for longer, allowing them more time to close in for the strike. "I hope I don't disappoint then." Martin said, right as they came up to 2 closed, and guarded, doors.

After showing their credentials, they continued into the hangar. The hangar was filled with only one vessel under construction, taking nearly a third of the hangar. The armor was not attached yet, as were the engines. One of the engines lay next to the main hull in the hangar, as well as other parts and areas being build next to the new ship. However, the main shape was unmistakable.

"It looks like a larger version of the Hydra class hunter." Martin said, more as a statement than a question.

"Correct. The Hydra class vessel was used as a basis for this one. They enlarged the original design. This vessel is 215 meters long. The hull is 35 meters wide at the widest point. When the engines and nacelles are all attached, it is closer to 80 meters wide overall. The 5 decks make the hull a total of 35 meters high. With engines, that is closer to 60."

"You do not know the exact measurements yet?" Martin asked surprised. "Usually the design is well defined at this stage."

"That is correct. The main hull is fairly well designed and set at this point, but the engine configuration is dependent on several design parameters, and those are still kind of in limbo. We have a set number for this iteration, but that will likely change before this ship launches. " Christine answered.

"Does she have a name yet?" Martin enquired, gesturing to the ship. "And can I see it from the inside?"

"No, no name yet. But yeah, we can go inside if you want." Christine smiled. Clearly she wanted to see the inside too.

They walked to the entrance of the hangar, several levels down of the hallway they where currently occupying. "What is the ships function?" Martin asked.

"Reconnaissance. It is supposed to be a prototype that allows for near invisible flight. By excreting as little heat as possible, this vessel is supposed to stay on station longer, and closer than any other vessel. Also, for quick hit and run attacks, this advantage could allow the enemy to be taken off guard. In the cartel battles, this is going to make a significant difference."

"And what if it is detected? The hunter class can run away, and is very maneuverable. The size of this vessel suggests more a heavy frigate, perhaps a light destroyer? Those will not be very nimble on the battlefield."

"We are working on the nimble part, that is why the engine design is not yet set in stone, and why we based this vessel on the Hydra. Perhaps this design is the hallmark for every future military vessel, if it is successful." Now arriving at the doors to the hangar, they stepped inside hangar 5. Some of the workers glanced in their direction, but saw no threat. Martin glanced around as well, and saw not many people of his age.

"I feel a bit outnumbered" Martin mumbled softly.

"Pardon me?" Christine asked, with a huge grin on her face.

"I feel a bit uncomfortable. It seems I am the youngest here." The grin on Christine's face did not disappear.

"So, you feel outnumbered." A soft feminine laugh could be heard in the hangar. "Welcome to my world. As one of the few females in this that does not push pencils, I know how you feel."

"Are there that little females working in Engineering?" Martin asked confused, and not a little embarrassed.

"Well, yes. Emancipation has done wonders for the world, but high up engineering of 'big boy toys' unfortunately remains a male world."

"Too bad" Martin said. He meant it too.

"I agree." Christine said on a serious tone. "Let's go inside."

"About the ships name. Is the name still open? Can I make a suggestion? I might have one." Martin said, out of nowhere.

Christine looked over, surprised. It took her a moment of thought to sort it out. "Ehh, I think the name is still open. The project is called by a codename: Strike Phantom. I have not heard of a name being chosen though. What did you have in mind?"

_"Icarus" _

"Isn't that the Greek story about the guy who had the wax and feather wings on his back, which melted as he got too close to the sun?"

"Yeah, that is the one. I think it is rather fitting. This ship is not designed as a front line vessel. If it gets detected too soon, it gets..."

"...Its wings burned." Christine added before Martin could end his sentence. "Sounds like a good suggestion. I will see what the higher ups think."

They entered though the side entrance, right behind the door to the Combat Information Centre. "Welcome on deck 2. The bridge and CIC is behind that door." Christine said, as she walked through the uncompleted airlock.

Martin followed her to the CIC, which was on more of a subdeck between deck 2 and 3, but was still counted as deck 2. Much of the CIC and the bridge was not completed yet. Martin saw many people working on various panels. Bundles of wiring lay all over the CIC. It looked more like a large bomb had gone off, but there appeared to be some ordering into the chaos. As they worked, a voice from behind shouted over the bridge. "Jian, how are the sensors coming along?"

A heavily accented voice shouted back from below a panel behind Martin. "Radar is working like a Swiss... Car!" A view chuckles could be heard.

Martin set foot on the actual bridge. The captains chair was already installed, but was still in plastic. He walked to the window and looked to 2 large closed hangar doors. "This will give a nice visibility, but what about protecting the bridge crew from incoming fire?"

"There are blast doors that will glide in front of the windows during combat situations. A simulated reality will be projected on the bridge walls to allow for full situational awareness." Christine answered calmly. "Let's continue. We have a lot more to see."

They walked back from the CIC, right into the mess hall. Behind the mess hall were the primary stairs and the primary lift. "Let's start at deck 1, shall we?" Christine suggested.

"Deck one houses the captains quarters, and VIP quarters and the number one turret assembly." They walked in the uncompleted captains quarters.

"Nice." Martin said, while looking around to the relative spacious quarters. They walked to the where the number 1 turret would be installed. A large hole, and a structure designed to hold two massive barrels in a retracted position could still be seen. "What is the armament of the turrets?"

"The turrets will be armed with two main heavy Gatling style guns. It allows for a high rate of fire, while limiting the peak heat." She saw Martin look at the large brackets. "The guns will not actually fire very large projectiles, but there will be many barrels used. The final design has not been set yet, but it will be the same for both the top and bottom turret at deck 5."

After taking the stairs back to deck 2, they walked though the mess hall, flanked on either side by the side torpedo armory. "Because this ship is larger than the Hydra class hunter, it will have 8 side mounted forward firing torpedo tubes, four on each side. The actual torpedoes are of course larger than on the Hydra as well. The armories for those are situated a bit aft and to either side of the mess hall. They span every deck of the ship, so each deck has a door to them." Christine explained.

Behind the central lift was the galley and the food stores, flanked by either side by life supports. Further aft were several machinery, crew utility chambers together with a bank of escape pods and the small arms armory.

"Here is the door to the core room for deck 2. Main engineering takes three decks in total, and all decks have corridors around main engineering. The core has not been installed yet, so there is just a big hole in the hull now, together with the removal of the stores for turret one. Behind main engineering is ship utility like secondary life support, water recycling, more storage, etc. At the back of the ship is the door to the main hangar and shuttle bay, the freight elevator, and secondary stairs."

They walked down to deck 3. "Behind engineering there is testing and maintenance for electrical components. Mostly system related though. Also fuel stores are here, secondary power banks are stored on deck three, both fore and aft of the ship. The two ships fusion plants are also on deck 3 and 4, together with all the machinery needed for the core, and the shields."

Martin looked surprised. "Don't fusion plants make a lot of heat?"

"Absolutely. They are most likely the most problematic heat sources on the ship. That is where your work will come in handy." Christine answered with a slight smile. They walked passed engineering back to the front part of the ship. "Deck 3 and 4, forward of main engineering is mostly crew berthing, storage and entertainment. Deck 3 also houses the main computer core, and under CIC is the central systems for sensors and such."

When walking over part of deck 3 that was already largely completed, Martin noticed something. "This seems to be rather luxurious. I have been to several military vessels, they were mostly quite basic."

"Correct. But this ship is being designed for long range, long stay, 'silent' runs. It was determined that the ship size also allowed for a bit more creature comfort. The ship should be well equipped to allow the crew to be comfortable with those longer missions."

They walked down to deck 4. "Deck 4 also has laundry here. Another life support and a lot of the secondary equipment is on deck four. Also some science labs are here. Sickbay will be squeezed somewhere on deck 3, but it does not exist yet. Deck 4 also house the mounts for the two main coil guns; which run all the way through the ship."

"How large?"

"That has also not been decided yet." Christine answered.

As they walked through main engineering this time, the size of the core was also obvious. Christine noted Martin looking interested at the design again. However, she was quicker. "The core will be larger than normal for this design. It allows for lower heat and lower drive charge rate. Incidentally, it allows for more agility, maneuverability and a higher top speed. But the main reason was heat, again."

"Question though: If you have the engines mounted on nacelles, how do you reach them for repair, and are they not vulnerable to attack?"

"Well, you are correct. They are more vulnerable, but they are incased in armor when the ship is completed. They have a construction around the mounts that allows for maintenance, and there will be hallways through the nacelles. Otherwise you would have to go EVA for maintenance. Bit impractical, not?" Martin nodded. Christine laughed."Yes, we thought of everything." Martin smiled back.

"Lovely ship. What is behind main engineering on deck 4?"

"The heavy machine shop. There they maintain the shuttles, the power plants, cores, etc. Everything mechanical is repaired and manufactured there. Let's go to the main shuttle bay."

"The shuttle bay was inspired by that old science fiction series 'Star Trek.'" Christine explained. "They nearly always had the shuttle bay at the aft of the ship. It makes sense though, it allows for a lot of space, without the large interior space cutting your ships structure in two, like main engineering does."

Martin looked back into the hangar through the hole that should one day house the main shuttle doors. He saw engineers working on various parts of the ship that still had to be installed.

"What do you think?" She said enthusiastically.

"Beautiful ship. It is enormously satisfactory to see what use your work is going to have. But I see little room in the ship for the room I need for my equipment to get it done."

"Yeah, but that will be up to the lead engineer to discuss with you." She looked at her wristcom. "I think he should be ready for you. He mentioned that you would like seeing all of this."

"I do." Martin said with a smile. "By the way, what is on deck 5?"

"With the exception of the number 2 turret, deck 5 is just boring stores, and some machinery. Nothing to see there." Christine said with a smile. _Must be a very happy girl. She has been smiling all day._

* * *

The lead engineer named Akash Nilam took over from Christine after she introduced Martin to the man. He was a 'true engineer', and could talk your ears off with specifics and explanations. He had a cold too. _Christine was already well versed in the ship and introductions, but this guy is just a machine._ But Martin had to keep up.

"You have been told the design plan for this ship?" Akash asked him when they stood in front of the large window overseeing the entire hangar, like an air traffic control tower. It actually used to be the flight control for the hangar, before it was handed over to Phoenix works. The lead engineer decided it would make a good office.

"Yes. This ship was designed for 'silent running'. I mean, as little heat as possible."

"Correct. In space, enemy weapons actually do the killing, but they need to know what to shoot at, first." *sniff* "Close range detection can be done by radar, but that is an active system. Heat detection is passive, and therefore far more dangerous." Akash blew his nose in a handkerchief. "Sorry. I have a cold." He put his handkerchief back into his pocket.

"Every design choice for this ship needs to be focused at heat reduction. The main weapons are coil guns for that very reason. They have disadvantages, such as shorter accurate range, lower punch, etc, but they also produce a lot less heat than rail guns, and have a higher rate of fire too."

"What about shields? They are power intensive, meaning large reactors are needed." Martin enquired.

"Yes, shields. A pity. Much rather used armor, but that is not practical. The ship has 8 shield enhancers. I stole the idea from the military." *A-choo!* "Have you heard of shield enhancers? Probably not, it is still classified tech."

"I know they exist, but the specifics, I don't know."

"Well, simply put." *Cough cough* "Shields use up a lot of power, but our tech level is actually not up for them yet. We can make them very strong, but that will make the ship literally glow in the dark from the heat produced by the fusion plants."

*Cough cough cough * "I hate having a cold." * cough... cough cough cough*.

"So, the shields are weak. So weak, that they cannot withstand a single volley of a ship of the same class. This makes the shields useless. Some extra leeway has been created by making shields out of small hexagon tiles, and rotating them. This allows for quicker recharging, and better defense, if only marginal."

"Hmm-hmm" Martin listened closely. It wasn't every day that you get an explanation of classified tech.

"However, with the weakness of the shield, if the modern shields did not have shield enhancers, a battle would be a massacre. The one who shot first would win automatically. Not good if you want to defend anything." * Cough cough.*

"Shield enhancers are just turreted shield projectors. They do exactly the same as the normal shield projectors, with one exception: they only project their influence over a small area. This allows for a local shield boost, for only a fraction of the energy of a total shield boost. Downside is, you have to aim them in a specific location, and any ship in a position to evade them, has a clean shot." *Sniff*

"But they have an upside as well. You can layer shield enhancers on top of each other. They then become a potent force to beat. 6 shield enhancers on one shield location can withstand virtually endless bombardment by a singular vessel of the same class. With perfect shield enhancer aim, the ship using them can take on dozens of vessels not equipped with them."

"Wow. Quite the game changer."

*sniff* "Yeah, it is. Add to that the fact that shield strength and power drain is adversely proportional to ship size, then shield enhancers become vital."

"Bigger ships have weaker shields?"

"In a way, yes. Because the bigger shields cover a lot more area, and need a lot more power, things become problematic for the bigger ships. They simply do not have the power to support powerful shields for their size. That is why they have more, and more powerful, shield enhancers. Get behind their shield enhancers, and you can take out a capital ship with a single well aimed missile."

"Wow." Martin kept thinking about that. "Just wow." he finally finished.

* * *

The conversation continued for a while, until Akash decided to change the subject. "Now, about you."

"Yes sir?" Martin just jumped back to slightly nervous behaviour.

"Sir? I am not that old yet." * Cough cough cough..* "Oh, wait, I am." Akash smiled. "Tell me what your thesis entailed. Because we have work to do, and I am curious about your work."


	6. Chapter 5 Glenn

**Chapter 5. This one is abit shorter than normal. **

**Feel free to dump some reviews in here.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 - David Glenn - 2156**

"Fresh meat, guys!"

The greeting was not what David Glenn had expected. He was greeted by a group of nerds on Mars, after a 3 hour journey with military equipment. The faster than light trip lasted only a few minutes at most. The rest of the time was spend in transit between the light cruiser that took him to Mars, and the ruins at the South Pole. _Why not just send me by shuttle. Why did I have to take the hours long transit by all terrain vehicle?_

"Welcome to the Mars alien ruins outpost. I am Lance Blevins. Good to meet you. We do not get many new people here. I hope you are going to be an asset to the team. Hey, have you heard the latest news? We don't really get much TV or internet here. I am here for more than 9 months, doing all kinds of research, but a data link to home is not yet established. It is rather irritating actually, I would really like to know what is happening back home, especially now that I, I mean 'we', do such important research for humanity. Come on, you know what I mean? A little data cache from one of the computer pillars we have been able to activate, and we advance technology by hundreds of years. Come on, what are they thinking down there? I mean up there. I would..."

"Please breathe, will ya?" Glenn spoke up trying to stop Lance. Glenn had known him for less than 5 minutes, and he already knew this was going to be a long stay.

"What? No. I have no breathing problem. I am just a quick thinker, that is all. I was brought here because I can see connections, where others only see garbage data. I don't know where the project would be without me. Not that I am going to say I am the smartest person around here, but we all have our tasks. Mine is just crucial, since we only get garbage data out of the artifact. If nobody can understand what it is about or how it is arranged, we will not benefit from it. That would be a waste. I actually asked to be here, can you believe it? I know there is not much to see here in terms of scenery, but being one of the few people that actually makes a difference actually makes everything worth wile."

"Do you have an off-button?" Glenn said a bit too loudly. Everybody but Lance started laughing.

"Don't mind him, he does that often. It takes some time to get used to it." The unknown man to the right of Lance Blevins offered his hand, which Glenn shook. "I am Guy Jacques. A pleasure to meet you, David Glenn." The man offered a soft smile.

_Must be gay. _It was the first thing that rocketed itself though Glenn's mind. He chastised himself mentally. _Don't jump to conclusions, jackass._ He desperately searched for something to ask to break the silence that was slowly getting awkward. _At least that Lance guy keeps his trap shut. Thank God, that guy can be irritating!_ "Is this everybody? I mean, only so few people researching are actually researching the Mars ruins?"

"Yeah, us 7 is all there is. We lucky few, we band of delinquent brothers, are all that stand between the current status quo, and the next step in human destiny." The man looked around the group of other, equally strange people. "I am Viggo Dalgaard." Glenn shook his hand as well.

"I expected a small city of scientists looking over this, not just 7 people. This does not make sense."

Lance decided he had been quiet long enough. "The answers to those questions are dependent on multiple variables. For one, not many people are actually willing to make the trip to the ass end of nowhere to look at a computer that does not want to cooperate. That reminds me that this kind of work requires a special type of people. You are here among an elite. A group of people that is here, drawn to a cause..."

"Ehh, we know, Lance." Another man said, now looking back to Glenn. "Word of advice: he always talks a lot, but don't get him started on 'the cause'. He will not stop talking before you lose the hairs on your balls from old age."

"Hey!" Everybody laughed at Lance's outburst. "I am right here, you know."

"Yeah, we all know, that is why we are trying so hard to keep you quiet!" Turning back to Glenn, "He is right though, it takes a special kind of person to work here."

"I can see why they put him here." Glenn replied with a smile, pointing at Lance. Lance's stared back at Glenn, annoyed about being attacked by the new guy. "But my question remains. Why just 7 people here?" Glenn tried again.

"Well, the problem is, we have only managed to get very little out of the artifact. All the advances of today are the result from a few scraps of data and a few artifacts found around the site. The outpost was supposed to grow a lot bigger, but with only the initial success, they just put us here to figure out how to get the data off the ruins. We send it back to Earth, where it gets analyzed." The man paused for a few seconds. "I am Kiyoshi Shichirou Nakamura. The lazy Americans here call me Yosh." The last part came out with a slight smile. Glenn also shook his hand.

"So, you are the alien-IT-data retrieval squad." Glenn clarified.

"Yes. And after we get some small scraps, it gets analyzed by that city of engineers and scientists you spoke of." Kiyoshi said.

"Who are the other guys here?"

Lance tried another time. "The team here will take a while to get used to. Most people here stay only for a short while. Shortest record was less than a week, longest short-record was a month. Most people just cannot handle what we do here, or expected to see all kinds of James Bond type of tech here. Truth is, us seven are here for more than 6 months, some even a few years, and nobody has managed to crack the 'big phallus'."

"That was remarkably short!" Chuckles could be heard. Viggo had a big smile on his face. "You also did not answer his question. Again."

"Ok, ok." Lance relented. "You already know me: Lance Blevins. Viggo Dalgaard and Kiyoshi Shichirou Nakamura have also introduced themselves. The others are, from left to right: Quanah Maquinna, Hugo van Ankeren, Ayden Foster and Barney Beck. Last two are American, so you should fit right in. The group comes from all over, but we manage to speak English to a degree." Lance took a moment to collect himself. "Better stop talking right about now, or the others will not appreciate the fact that I can also give short answers. I bet you can already tell that they are just waiting for the right moment to interfere. It is not always easy being the laughing stock here."

"You make it easy" the man called Hugo interrupted. Lance shut up, while Glenn started shaking hands with the people that he did not know yet.

"Well, all: I am David Glenn. Hopefully I can be of assistance. Now: can I see it? I want to see it."

* * *

"'Big phallus', eh?" Glenn asked, when he stood before the Prothean artifact. "I can see the resemblance."

"Yes, 7 men working all day with 'the Phallus'. Every joke has been done to death. But you have to do something when it simply does not want to work with you the way you want to." Quanah stated.

"Why does this construction have those lines over it?" Glenn asked.

"Your guess is as good as ours. Our current guess is just esthetics."

"That's it? They do not have a function?" Glenn was getting more and more disappointed. This was not what he had expected it to be. He had been reading up on the Mars ruins for a long time, and had worked his butt off to get this posting. He considered himself lucky, but he was now questioning that luck.

"Not that we know, no." Quanah looked at Glenn, and saw the disappointed look on his face. "Now you know what we feel on a daily basis. I can guess that you expected this to be a cool research base and all, but sorry, we are it. And we are looking at the Phallus that just does not work right."

"Have you been able to find out why that is?"

"No. We have tried pushing more juice in the machine, but it only takes so much. Also, whatever input we give it, it just does not want to power up any more than that small side shard. It does react to our computer input, but it just does not do much with it. It is like whole sections are missing."

"Shit." Glenn sighed. "Is that why most people don't last as long as you all have?"

"Yes. Most get frustrated and bored after a few weeks of working out every idea they could come up with. Most of them are pretty much the same. All fame seekers. They don't care about the discovery, they care about the status boost they would get if they managed to get it first. Too bad for them."

"How so?"

"Problem is, that it is a team thing, so even if they managed to get to the big data cache that would advance humanity another 200 years, it gets interpreted by a team, and run by a dozen agencies before anybody gets any credit for the work. We would be lucky if we get a notion in some advanced classified data news paper or something." Quanah sighed at that.

_Must be disappointing, working on something as hard as you can for a good portion of your life, and then see others run away with your discovery._ Glenn decided to change the topic. "What have we managed to find out about the Protheans, other than the fact that they made this thing, and are long extinct?"

"Not much, unfortunately. We have not managed to get anything more than that original cache."

"No clue as to how they managed to completely disappear as a species?" Glenn remembered the conversation with 'the band' not that long ago. Nobody was interested, but the question was still valid. And if the threat was big enough to wipe out these Protheans, it will certainly be big enough to wipe out the human race.

"Nothing." Quanah said. He looked at Glenn and saw another wave of disappointment flash over his face. "Yeah, we are here on the silent end of the joke. It sucks, we all know. But we go on. One day we will have the answers we want. The answers we deserve."

"For humanity?" Glenn looked up at the full height of the alien artifact.

"For humanity? Hell no. My reasons are a lot more selfish. I am just curious." Quanah smiled at the thought. "Go ask Lance, if you dare, he will give you the speech of a lifetime how humanity is to benefit from this, and how the cause is more important than our lives." Quanah let some chuckles out. "And with 'lifetime' I mean, it is going to take your lifetime. Don't get your hopes up about it being the best speech you ever heard."

"I think I got the sneak preview of 'the speech' at the introduction." Glenn remarked smiling.

"Oh, no. That was not the sneak preview. That was the footnote at the bottom of the wrapper around the Bible of Lance." Another laugh. "He takes some time to get used to. He has quite the manual. But Lance is a good person, you will see."

* * *

Glenn worked beside the group of weird characters for two weeks, getting more disappointed about his work every day. _Maybe I should just get the hell out of here. I am just scratching my ass here, and this thing is just jerking us around._

"Hey guys, the new guy managed to get to the two weeks mark! This requires something special!" Ayden shouted over the research room where all seven where trying to get more data out of the artifact.

"What do you have in mind?" someone on the other side of the room shouted back.

The room was a big round setting, allowing some of the planet to show around the artifact. Three of the researchers where slowly digging deeper around the artifact, trying to find the foundation that the artifact was build on.

"Mail order a cake?" Quanah quipped.

"Good idea, it will only take about 3,5 weeks to get here." Ayden replied. "Just in time to see him.." Pointing at Glenn, "...run away bored stiff, back to mama."

"That means more for us!" Barney remarked from down the 'pit' where he was digging.

Glenn decided to take a quick break. "I have been ramming my head against my computer for two weeks and got exactly nothing." A loud sigh could be heard through the room, as Glenn stood up from behind his computer and walked towards the pit.

"That is more than most managed, kid." Barney complemented. "Please watch your step, it is a long, undignified, but _funny_ _for us_, way down." Some chuckles could be heard around the room.

Glenn looked down and saw a single cable run towards one of the smaller pillars surrounding the biggest. "That is how you feed it energy? Through that one cable?"

"Yeah." A moment of silence followed as Lance stood next to Glenn. _Hmm, that was a short answer. Must be a new record._

"And all that power did not even lit up one pylon?" Glenn asked in a rhetorical fashion.

"Yeah." said Lance again. Glenn glanced at the man standing next to him. Lance had a contorted face, expressing him being in deep thought about something.

"Have you found more of those energy ports used to give the artifact energy?" Glenn descended down the stairs to the bottom of the pit, looking for more of these energy ports.

"No. We only found one at the start. But it was damaged." Barney stated.

"Have you studied the damage? Can you find out what made the damage? Or what was damaged?" Glenn asked while he saw the damage for himself.

"We tried, but it amounted to nothing. We could all agree the thing was damaged, but we had no idea by what." Barney now stood up and kept Glenn company, as he slowly studied the side of the artifact.

"What if it was just a simple dust cover. That would mean that other, ehhm, energy ports, would have those too. You would never see them, unless you touched the cover. Perhaps they have a symbol for such things." Glenn remarked.

"What are you thinking, kid?" Barney asked.

"Well, one energy port powers about half of one of the pylons. What if every pylon needs two energy ports to work, and perhaps a bit more for the central 'Phallus'?" Glenn kept touching and feeling his way around one of the pylons of the Prothean artifact.

"Well, we did not do a feeling session with the artifact. We did tried x-raying the thing, but it just does not let any radiation through, so we got nothing." Barney now decided to help Glenn, and started to let his hands carefully run along the outer surface. "Normally we don't allow touching, for fear of accidentally doing more damage. But your theory has some merits, seeing that only one half of one pylon is powered by that one cable."

Glenn kept feeling around the one pylon they had powered for a full 20 minutes, until: "I found something!" Glenn shouted. It did not take long for several of the research team to get around him. "Over here. It looks like another energy port."

"Hugo, get me another power line!" Barkley shouted.

"Right away." Hugo replied, right as the others from the ground team started feeling their way around the rest of the artifact. After carefully studying the dust cover of the energy port, they managed to decipher a few symbols. It did not take long for the other team members to find more dust covers. Everybody was getting really enthusiastic.

"At this rate, we might get our small city of scientists over here after all." Viggo said with a smile in his voice.

"Let's not get our hopes up just yet. Although I would not mind the improvement of the food, if that happens." Quanah replied.

"Who knows, maybe I will get some credit for my contribution." Glenn spoke up, a bit of hope in his voice.

"Don't count on it. You were never here. Your name never left Earth, and you will conveniently arrive after the fact, while some rich dipshit will arrive two weeks earlier to magically make the discovery for you." Viggo said, with a lot of bitterness in his voice.

"Has that happened before?" Glenn was actually surprised by the implied conspiracy.

"Yeah, that is what you get when you are getting privately funded by basically snobs. The military lost interest several years ago. We have been collectively banging our heads against this, nobody got any new ideas. Your idea might work, though." Quanah spoke up, keeping Viggo from completely burning down their benefactors.

"Why did we not think of that?" Barkley sighed next to Glenn. "_it might have been a dust cover._" he imitated Glenn.

"Face it, Barkley, the 'kid' has outsmarted you." Hugo said, while lowering a second cable down into the pit.

"He managed to think sideways, while we all had target fixation. I guess that is a common occurrence with scientists who have been lead into an endeavor with just enough incentive to wet our appetite. Fresh blood is not always a bad thing. Other lines of reasoning, other avenues of approach have often lead to the greatest discoveries. We were lucky that he did not run away in boredom after a single day. I tell you, I have a good feeling about this one. Nice one, 'kid'. Oh, here is the new cable. Let me insert it while you all look for other energy ports. Hugo, please keep bringing the cables. Damn, I am excited. I have to say though, David, well done." Lance kept talking, getting more excited with every sentence as he connected the power cable to the second energy port of the one pylon they had already partially powered.

Once the power cable was connected, the smaller pylon lit up completely and started to hum softly. "It hums!" Barkley stated the obvious. "Must be a good sign."

"Kiyoshi, any new data up there?" Ayden shouted hopeful.

"Yes, it now comes to life. The data flow is significant. It might take a while before we have complete access and can easily interface, but we just made progress!" Kiyoshi let out some energetic laughs. "This is amazing! HA!"

"Time to order that cake! I'll be damned if Glenn here does not get some recognition for this." Hugo said, while lowering a second cable.

"Agreed." "Me too." "Let's do it." came the support for the idea from all sides.

"Destiny, here we come. Humanity has arrived, and we want our pound of flesh please." Ayden said, enthusiastically, while connecting the third cable to another pylon, powering it up partially.

"Hell yeah!" Barkley shouted.

_I think I am going to stay. Maybe this is where I need to be after all._ Glenn smiled and looked at a frantic team of happy nerds feeling their way around an 50.000 year old artifact, occasionally shouting conformation of finding another energy port. _Yeah... No, strike that. __Fuck__ yeah!_

Glenn smiled. He was home.


	7. Chapter 6 The Icarus

**Next chapter. Sorry for the delay, but i had a Thesis to write. Now that that is done, i can continue the story.  
**

**Please review, as it helps.  
**

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**Chapter 6 - The Icarus - 2157**

Opening: Mars transcript 2:

**BEGIN TRANSCRIPT**

_"Houston, this is Thor flight."_

_"Go ahead, Thor."_

_"We are 15 minutes from igniting our Mars orbit burn."_

_"Copy that, Thor. Begin checklist. We are reading green across the board."_

_"Roger that, Houston. We will contact you on checklist completion."_

_"Copy that, Thor. Houston out."_

_"Stations people."_

_"Yes boss, captain."_

_"Can't you take anything serious, Sam?"_

_"Nope. Every mission needs its comic relief."_

_"And somehow we end up with you. The least funny man in the universe... Fuel check completed. All green."_

_"Could be worse. I heard they asked Arnold for this trip instead of me. That man cannot joke if his life depends on it.. Module rotations stable, life support green."_

_"And still, Arnold would have been funnier than you, Sam... Directional thrusters, check. Flight control systems, check... Who came up with the order for this checklist. It sucks."_

_"Sam, Kimberly, please focus."_

_"Yes captain."_

_"Yes, boss.. Hey Kimberly, you actually managed to shave 15 hours of the current record to mars with these old ships. Well done.. Reactors are stable, board is green on power supply."_

_"Thank you Sam.. 10 minutes to orbit burn.. Initiating engine pre-start sequence."_

_"Yes, very impressive. But can you park it?"_

_"Hey!"_

_*Klunk*_

_"Hahahahaah."_

**END TRANSCRIPT**

"Would you know that you opened Pandora's Box? Especially when the initial experience is pleasant?"

* * *

"Attention to order."

The distinct sound of soldiers standing at attention echoes through the room. Everyone of the bridge crew has their eyes fixed on Hackett and Staff Commander Chiari Moretti. They were standing on the bridge of an experimental warship, that was not even completely finished. However, the decision was made to run trail runs, and for that, they decided they needed military personnel. Commander Chiari Moretti was assigned as the commanding officer of this new ship, the _Icarus_. She had the choice of crew, and she offered positions to several crew members of the cruiser Hong Kong. Among which, was 2nd Lieutenant Steven 'the General' Hackett.

"It has come to the attention of the Alliance High Council that 2nd Lieutenant Steven Hackett has shown exceptionally skill and dedication regarding his duties, and has been performing beyond the level required from a 2nd Lieutenant. By direct order from the High Council, 2nd Lieutenant Steven Hackett is to be promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant, effective immediately." Commander Moretti had a smile on her face. Hackett knew the promotion came from her. "Congratulations Lieutenant!"

Two crew members moved towards either side of Hackett, to update the chevrons on his shoulders. After they were done, he saluted Commander Moretti. Hackett was very pleased by the show of confidence.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Hackett went to parade rest. "Detail, dismissed." Right after the order sounded, the few crew members that came along from the Hong Kong began cheering and congratulating Hackett.

"You earned it!" Was something Hackett frequently heard.

They had only set foot aboard the Icarus for less than 5 minutes before they got conformation of their orders to take command of the vessel. While arriving at the bridge, Commander Moretti's first official act was to promote Hackett.

Once the ceremony was complete, she took Hackett aside. "Hackett, you will take command of the tactical crew as tactical operations officer. You will also be third in line of command, after myself, and John Rutan, who will be the XO."

Not naming a rank when mentioning the XO got Hackett to look up at Moretti with a questioning look on his face. "Does he have a rank?"

"No, he is the team leader for Phoenix Works' division responsible for trail runs of their vessels. Normally, he would be the commanding officer of the vessel, but by special military decree, things have become a bit different." Moretti explained, while still being a bit vague.

"I understand, Commander." Hackett replied in his business tone.

"Don't think because he does not have a rank, he must be an amateur. He has been in command of a large range of vessels, manned by a variety of crew for almost 2 decades, running the strictest trail runs and the best evaluations since the start of Phoenix Works. The man is an authority here, and knows what he is doing."

"Yes ma'am. " Hackett responded.

"That said, he might not be very strictly military, and neither are a large portion of the crew. So, discipline will be less stringent. The people will still perform, however, and are used to working with military personnel. I don't expect much problems."

"Understood. Do we have any specific orders?" Hackett asked.

"No, we are to proceed to Shanxi for the basic trail runs. That is all for now. We will depart in a few hours. The situation also precludes us having a full crew, so we will have to do with what we have."

"What is the ship status? From what I have seen so far, we do not seem to be combat worthy, Commander." That was a bit of an understatement. The Icarus was nowhere near battle ready. Most of the systems that would make the Icarus a force to be reckoned with where already installed, but nearly all of them where not working yet. Throughout the ship, decks where littered with boxes and tools, and the occasional power line or data cable bundle to be attached to their respective systems.

"Ye.." Commander Moretti's wristcom made a few discrete noises, signaling she had a new, apparently important, message. She instantly became distracted, looking at her message board. Hackett's mind started to wonder a bit, while waiting for commander Moretti.

With the Icarus in its current state, Hackett knew the ship should really not be out of the dry-docks yet. The fact that they were mere hours of launching the Icarus, made him feel highly uneasy. Hackett would even go so far as to say he was nervous. _I feel a mission coming. A classified one. And something tells me, they needed this ship, completed or not. _Remembering all the parts lying around the Icarus, being loaded in the mid-ship ramp, and into the shuttle bay using the onboard cranes, made him realize a few things. _Maybe the fact that the whole ship is littered with parts, and that about half the crew is mechanics and engineers has something to do with it. Are we supposed to build up the remaining ships systems during our flight to Shanxi? This makes no sense. Why not send a Geneva class cruiser to wherever we are going? What can be so important that it requires a half finished ship to complete? Half a finished ship with a large engineering crew at that? _

The message that kept Commander Morisetti looking at the holographic displays being projected above her arm, had been dealt with. If anyone ever wanted proof that Moretti could multitask, than this would be the moment. Without missing a beat, she answered Hackett's question, that had been lingering in the air for several minutes. "Correct. Most of the ships systems are not available. The engineers assure me that all the parts are on board, and a good amount of work will be done while we are in transit. We have shields, and the hull integrity is at maximum, meaning we have all our armor too. But that is about it. This should not be a problem though, since we will only fly in friendly space." Moretti explained.

"Then why go to Shanxi, ma'am? Couldn't we do the trail runs in Sol?" Hackett was a bit confused by this.

"We have been given our orders Lieutenant. It is not your job to question them." Commander replied sternly.

"Ma'am, with respect. As long as the XO is not on board, it is my duty as acting XO. Ma'am." Hackett stood his ground.

Commander Moretti was considering Hackett's reply. "Nice loophole, Lieutenant. But that is no longer necessary. XO John Rutan is just entering the ship."

Hackett turned around, to see an older man calmly walking on the bridge, quickly checking several displays and crew members at their stations. His whole demeanor radiated respect and authority. _The commander is correct, this man does not look like an amateur._ Hackett studied the man for a few moments. From what he could determine, the only reason XO Rutan was not in command was probably because he had no military rank.

"John Rutan. You must be Commander Chiari Moretti?" He asked in a polite tone, as he extended his hand to Commander Moretti.

"That is correct. Staff Commander Chiari Moretti. I have just arrived myself. It is an honor to meet you, mister Rutan." Moretti answered in an equal polite tone.

The man let out an enthusiastic laugh. "Please, just call me John, or XO. I don't need to feel any older than I already look." The two shook hands. "And you are?" Rutan said, looking at Hackett.

"1st Lieutenant Steven Hackett, sir. I am assigned to tactical." Hackett replied, and offered his own hand. Rutan gladly accepted it.

"You will have a boring job then; there will not be anything to do for you." Rutan laughed. "I will make sure you can help making sure the rest of the crew has coffee."

"Yes, sir." Chuckling along with the XO. "However, the trial runs include tactical simulations, and that is my expertise." Hackett switched back to serious mode. "I will not be completely useless."

"Truth is, Lieutenant, most of the testing will be done by my staff. You will just be needed to coordinate everything. Yes, we will be running simulations, but my people are not used to running things in a military fashion. Please keep that in mind, or there might be a lot of friction." Rutan replied, also with a serious tone.

"I will, sir."

"_Hammer_, could you show Lieutenant Hackett around the ship, while I have a conversation with the XO in private?" Commander Moretti asked the man sitting at the helm.

"Yes ma'am." The reply by the man named 'Hammer' was stern and short. He stood up, after pushing a few buttons at the console he was occupying, and walked towards Hackett. The man was medium build and had a cocky grin on his face. He stood at attention before Hackett. "2nd Lieutenant Peter 'Hammer' Moreau, sir."

Hackett still had to get used to his promotion, and it took him a few moments to realize he now outranked the man. "At ease, Lieutenant." Hammer went to parade rest. "I assume you are our pilot?"

"Correct sir." The man responded.

"Ok. Lead the way, Hammer." Hackett said, stepping aside to let Hammer move towards the exits.

"Have you read the ships files, sir?" Hammer asked.

"Yeah, I have. But I would still like to see for myself. A manual can only say so much." Hackett said as they walked through the mess hall as the exited the bridge.

"Yes sir. Behind the elevator on deck 2 is now a briefing room, sir. The rest is as is stated in the files." The man kept a brisk pace as they walked through the ship. Several of the rooms that were not completed yet, were used as material storage. As they walked past the windows, showing main engineering, they saw a short man, with a Spanish look, shout at his staff. "Our Chief Engineer, sir." Hammer commented, before he walked off again.

_Slow down. How can I take in the ship while running a marathon?_ Hackett decided that he would follow the man for now, but that he would take a separate tour as soon as Hammer was done. It was quite the ship, and there was just too much to see. _I guess I should visit main engineering later._ He made a mental note of that.

It did not take long for Hammer to finish his tour, during which he proved very hard to hold a conversation with. The man never spoke more than strictly needed, and often replied with just 'yes sir' or 'no sir'. He even replied with 'no comment, sir' once. Something that particularly annoyed Hackett, but he decided to let it slide. _No need to make enemies on my first day._

"Permission to resume my duties, sir. We will leave in 2 hours before we depart." Hammer said. Hackett could see he was probably annoyed that Commander Moretti asked him for the tour. _I guess now I know why he did it marathon style._

"Permission granted, Lieutenant." Hackett replied, and after a few seconds of thinking, he decided that he would use the two hours to do his own tour. "Hammer, you have the bridge."

"Yes sir."

* * *

After walking over the first deck, which held his quarters for now, and the second deck, he descended to the third. _Hmm, the elevator is slow. That is going to affect efficiency._ As soon as he walked out, he ran into somebody familiar.

"Martin?"

"Steve?"

Both men took a few moments to study each other, and overcome their surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Martin started, now with a big smile on his face. "You are the last person I would expect. Not that I am complaining, it is good to see you!"

"Likewise. I was handpicked by Commander Moretti to help out with the trail runs. I knew you worked at Phoenix Works, but shouldn't you be on the ground team or something? Sitting in an office?" Hackett now also with a smile on his face. He could not believe his luck. This was going to be a fun trip, with his friend here.

"Normally you would be correct, but since I was one of the principle designers of the advanced heat dissipation systems, they decided I should be on board." Hackett and Martin went back up the elevator to sit in the mess hall.

"Damn, this elevator is slow." Hackett decided this was the perfect moment to complain about it.

"Yeah, it is still running on one servo. I will mention it to the Chief Engineer, once he is done shouting to everybody. Damn, that guy is annoying." They moved towards one of the tables and sat down. "So, Steve, how have you been in the past year?"

"I served on the Hong Kong, a Geneva class cruiser for a year, as one of the tactical staff. It was... beyond words. It is such an amazing ship: sleek, powerful, and fast. Captain Ernst Lange was an amazing captain. Open minded, smart, and fair. He had his quirks though, which made for a never-dull ride." Hackett explained with a smile on his face. "I learned a lot from him. He even let me fire and direct the tactical crew once, during an exercise. It was the single most empowering thing I have ever done."

"You got to shoot the big guns?" Martin asked, remembering their meeting a year earlier.

"Not just shoot. The tactical crew on such a ship is not a single person. It is several layers of information working its way up towards the people who have to make the decisions. At the start, I just watched the radar/lidar screen, and reported the movements of the potential targets. That info went to the person 'above' me to create a firing solution or tactical plan using all the sources. The final decisions was made by the tactical commander. He gets to shoot at the captains command."

"That sounds.. complex for firing a single gun." Martin commented. "How do they ever get a quick response time?"

"You forget that a cruiser has several weapons systems, pointing in all directions. Especially when attacked at large scale, you need more than one person to oversee it all. When that happens, the filtering that happens during the several layers actually make the process a lot smoother. But it does take some getting used to." Hackett explained.

"I guess that makes sense. So, what is your job here? Are you going to boss me around?" Martin asked with a slight grin on his face.

"Yes, actually. I am lead tactical officer, and third in line for command, after the XO. What was his name.. Eehh.. Oh, Rutan, I believe."

"You are third in command? Damn, that means you really are my boss. I did not know they made 2nd lieutenants third in command?" Martin looked both puzzled and amazed.

* * *

"No, I just got promoted about 5 minutes after I came on board." Hackett replied. "And I am commanding officer of the tactical department. So unless you can actually do some shooting, you will have very little chance of me ordering you around. But if you insist, I am more than happy to order you to clean my personal toilet." Hackett chuckled.

Martin looked at the chevrons on Hackett's shoulders. The little knowledge he had about military ranks made him recognize the rank. He was proud for his friend, however could not hide his disappointment about being still at the bottom end of the totem pole. "You can lick your own toilet clean, Lieutenant! I might do some shooting though... And congratulations." Martin said genuinely.

"Thanks. Just what I needed. More responsibility." Hackett responded smiling. "But what happened to you in the mean time? You are obviously on the ship, so you must have some important job to do?"

_Yeah, cleaning pipes and carrying welding torches all day._ "Well, not really. I helped in the conceptional design of the heat dissipation system, but as soon as the senior engineers got the idea, I was delegated to just running performance calculations. Although I could offer some insight here and there, I just feel underappreciated here, to be honest."

Hackett got a frown on his face. "That seems to suck. You seemed so excited about a year ago."

"Yeah, it begun really good. I was a needed component for the group, and I had my input. But once they got the basic idea behind my plans, I just got shoved aside. Now I am just a basic grunt worker." _Thankfully, I don't have to get them coffee every day._

"Have you complained about that?"

"Yeah, of course. But not many people fresh out of school get a job such as this. They normally get experienced people, and..."

"Ahh.." Hackett interrupted, "So they said 'experience first, then we'll talk.'"

"Yeah. And that gets annoying fast. I know I can do a lot more, but they just don't let me. I was actually already looking for another job, and then the order came to get this ship rushed ready. They dumped me on the crew and told me to assist in the completion of the heat dissipation systems. I have been working on it ever since." _And I am drained dry._

Hackett seemed to notice the exhaustion on Martins face now. "Does that mean that you are more important now?"

"No. I just carry pipes around, and do some occasional welding. The senior engineers get all the nice jobs. I am doing work well below my skill level." Martin let out a sigh. "And I have about enough."

"Well, perhaps this mission turns into a nice change of events and scenery. A job such as this you don't get every day." Martin heard the uplifting confidence in Hackett's voice. "Speaking of this mission: do you know anything? You said it suddenly became a rush job?"

"Yeah. This ship should have about a year left to completion of the prototype, but they wanted it done in a matter of a few weeks. I don't know what this rush is about, but apparently, this ship needs to go somewhere, and it needs military personnel to get there. You included." Martin looked around to see if anybody was there.

"Have they told you any specifics?" Hackett was now paying full attention. Slightly leaning forward with an intense stare in his eyes.

_I guess I am not the only one who sees the patterns and asks the inevitable questions. _"Does the term 'above your pay-grade' mean anything to you?" Martin answers with a smile.

"Yeah. I got the same 'don't question the orders' stone-wall bull-shit line." Hackett backed off, now that Martin had no further info.

_When this mission is over, I am getting out of here. Perhaps I'll join Hackett in Starfleet._

"So, whether we like it or not, we are literally in the same boat." Martin chuckled at his bad word joke. "But still, I have a bad feeling about this. You don't take a barely air tight ship into space for an important mission with an untested crew. Most of the people are engineers, and the military contingent is almost nonexistent. I don't know about you, but something is going on, or is about to happen; and we both know it. I hate the unknown." came the resolute words from Martin, quite accurately summing up the whole situation.

"I know exactly what you mean."

* * *

After the reunion talk with this friend, Hackett continued his tour of the ship. He entered deck 3 and continued towards engineering. When the door opened, the loud voice of first lieutenant Diego Garcia Ramos echoed through the room.

"Come on people, get off your lazy ass and double check those engines. Now! This ship is about to leave space dock, and I will be damned if this whole endeavor ends in a shit-fest because we did not do our _jobs_!" Ramos seemed to take a breath. "Curt, eyes to your console, not your mistress!" he bellowed over the engineering deck, as the man addressed as Curt interacted with a female for some clarifications. Both persons now looked genuinely embarrassed, and somewhat annoyed, but quickly returned to their work.

Hackett slowly walked over the engineering deck, which still looked like a bomb had gone off. He approached Lieutenant Ramos, who was standing amidst hard working, slightly grunting, engineers of various ages. While looking around, he did not spot Martin. _He must be working somewhere else._ After a few steps, he stood close enough to Lieutenant Ramos to make an introduction attempt.

"First lieutenant Steven Hackett." Hackett stated, while at the same time he held his arm out.

"Lieutenant Ramos, chief engineer. You seem young for a first lieutenant. When did you get promoted?" Ramos was straight to the point.

"Just recently."

"Aha, and what do you do here, LT Hackett?" His tone was completely devoid of any form of emotion or sense of caring about the introduction. Ramos only very briefly looked at Hackett, before he continued to look at the engineering screens of the people under his command.

"I am lead tactical officer." Hackett responded. "How capable is this ship, mister Ramos?"

"Not well. They wanted this ship flying as soon as possible, but as you can obviously see, this ship is just not ready. They can think this thing will fly, and it will, albeit barely. But the first thing we encounter that is not made of rock, and bears arms, is going to kill this little cardboard box with engines. Don't get your hopes up kid, we are in no shape to fight, and this is a prototype mission." Ramos kept looking around him for seemingly slacking people. "Kate, eyes on your work! And get me some more coffee."

"What do you know about it?" Hackett asked again.

"What?" Ramos answered, oblivious to the conversation they had mere seconds before.

"About this strange deal of affairs, and the mission we are going to complete?"

"Don't know." Ramos turned away from Hackett. "Right tool for the job, you idiot! Yeah, you, with the half shaven beard. Yeah, you. Think first, act second. Use the right tool for the job, or I will shove the wrong tool up your ass sideways! Now get back to it!" Ramos turned back to Hackett. "And frankly, I don't care. My job is to get this ship ready, not to keep asking useless time consuming questions, lieutenant!" Ramos message is clear.

"See you later lieutenant." Hackett replied meekly. He turned around and left. Everybody was hard at work, both inside engineering and outside. Hackett continued his tour through the ship.

* * *

"15 minutes before cast off. Clear the hangar, and prepare for hangar hard vacuum." John Rutan said over the bridge and radio. Outside the Icarus, ground crew were running for the hangar doors. Alarms sounded as the heavy inner hanger doors slowly closed. "Let's start her up, people. Let's bring her to life!" The signature line, always spoken by John Rutan at the test flight of a new space ship made the Phoenix workers smile. The hectic of the last few days was saluted by the acknowledgement of the ship being ready for launch.

It did not take long for the engineering crew to start the main reactors of the Icarus, filling the ship with a low hum. Shortly after, the main Eezo core powered up, sending a momentary small static buzz through the ship. Crewmen on the bridge were calling off the systems from checklists, needed for minimum flight. Whether the Icarus was ready or not, she would leave this hangar.

"Icarus, this is Phoenix Works hangar 5 control, the hangar is clear, and the pressure is at minimum. You are to engage mag-locks, we are disengaging the hangars gravity."

"Mag-locks engaged." Hammer replied. "The ship reports mag-lock contact."

"Understood, Icarus. Opening the outer doors. You may move your ship out at your discretion as soon as the doors have opened completely."

"Roger that, hangar 5 control." John Rutan answered.

"Good luck, and fair winds, Icarus." And the connection was cut.

The hangar doors slowly opened, and Hammer maneuvered the ship off the hangar floor after disengaging the magnetic undercarriage. "Retracting gear." his monotone voice bellowed on the bridge. He was hard at work making sure this brand new ship would not crash into the hangar itself, now that the internal gravity was turned off.

"Hammer, slow reverse. Move us out of the hangar." Commander Moretti said. Using the thrusters, Hammer slowly put the Icarus into a reverse motion. The hangar doors could be seen passing by the bridge at a snail's pace. "We are in space." The Commander finally pronounced.

"Something is not right. I am losing control!" Hammer's hands flew over the interfaces, as the ship started to spiral around several axis at once. "Dammit, I cannot correct the spin!"

"I got it, I got it!" said one of the Phoenix Works engineers on the bridge, as he ran towards one of the stations next to Hammer's. "That's what you get when you take a ship before she is ready. I told them this would happen. But did they listen? Noooo. Speed above everything." He looked at Hammer. "This is what you get when you take a ship that has no calibrated controls."

"That is enough, mister Willis." John Rutan chastised.

The engineer called Willis responded with a low grunt. His hands were typing at feverish pace, as the proximity sensors begin to warn the bridge crew that the Apollo station was getting closer and closer.

"Mister Willis, today, if you please." the calm voice of John Rutan reminded the entire bridge crew of the growing urgency, for as far as it was needed.

"Don't soil your undies." the engineer called Willis replied, still typing quickly. "Almost got it. Yes. Running calibrations now." He was quiet for a few seconds while the ship started spinning faster and faster. "Try it now, Mr. Hammer."

Hammer used all the skill he possessed to correct the spin, and stop all the ships movement. "Ahhh, not fast enough, not fast enough..." He said with an increasing intensity.

Hackett sat in his chair, feeling his nervousness rise at the same rate as the hangar wall came closer. "Come on.. Come on..." Hackett said just loud enough that only he could hear it. He looked at his tactical console, which mostly did not work, and saw the proximity sensors and trajectory prediction algorithms display the change in the ships predicted path. Hammer managed to correct the ship just in time, coming to a halt just half a meter before the hangar door, with the ships nose pointing at the stations outer hull.

"Half a meter. That's a record." Hammer remarked. "And too close."

"Agreed. Are we ok now, Hammer?" Moretti asked, slightly unnerved by the turn of events.

"Yeah. The controls are sluggish and vague, but somewhat workable. I recommend some testing and calibrating before we move to FTL."

"We can't do that, we need to be at Shanxi as soon as possible." Moretti replied, gaining questioning looks from all the bridge crew. They had not so quickly forgotten the inability of the ship to control its own trajectory.

"No can do, ma'am." Hammer responded with authority in his voice. "If we don't calibrate the helm, we cannot control this ship with the needed accuracy."

That made Moretti think for a few moments. Contradicting her orders was not in the planning, but not being able to fly the ship was a big problem. It did not take long before a sigh was heard on the bridge. "How long is this going to take?"

"30 minutes maximum." Willis responded. Moretti was not pleased, but she had no choice.

"Proceed."

* * *

The sound of the door opening made Hackett look over his shoulder. In the door stood a man in an space approved overall, looking at the unfinished luxury of the VIP cabin.

"This is your room? Damn." Martin said with a smile on his face. Being an engineer on the heat dispersion systems had not yet given him any reason to be on deck one. "Heh, funny thing is: I am working on this ship full time, and I have never been here."

"Well, it is not as luxurious as you might think. The toilet does not work. The shower? Does not work. AC? Does not work. Half of the plating is hidden by these ugly drapes. The normal wall panels are not installed yet. All that crap in the corner? That is supposed to be installed in this room. My bed is just a wooden bunk with some blankets. The only things that work here are the lights, somewhat, and the door. The only luxury is the amount of space." Hackett pointed out while he guided Martin though the room.

"You should see my space. We are shoved in a storage locker. The crew compartments are not finished yet. We sleep in make-shift bunk beds, with 16 people in one room. It is hot, damp and smelly there. I would love to trade with you, General." Martin sat down on a stack of panels that where still to be installed.

"It's good to be the king." Hackett responded with a smile. "And are you sure it is not _your_ smell that hangs in that storage compartment?"

"Normally, I would counter that, but since most of the showers in this bucket aren't working yet, you might have a point." Martin watched as Hackett again looked over the work he was doing.

"I have been going over these status reports. Half of the systems that are supposed to be in this ship are not installed yet. The other half, aren't working. Whatever is left, is now in charge of hurtling us though space." Hackett had a worried look on his face. "And whatever prompted this action has to be important, because right now, this ship is not safe."

"And you have no idea what is going on?"

"No. But this I do know. This whole thing reeks of desperation." Hackett sighed, and was silent for a moment. "The commander does not want to tell me. It is above my pay-grade."

"That sucks." Martin's face slowly turned into a smile. "I guess it is not all gold that glitters, being the king."

"Yeah, remind be about it." Hackett turned his data pads off. "Are you finally done working for the day?"

"Yeah, they have us run 16 to 18 hour days to get as much done as quickly as we can. I was just coming by to say hallo, before going to bed. I was hoping that you had some explanation of the situation."

"No. Not yet anyway."

"That sounds hopeful." Martin's smile returned to his face. "Whatever it is, we are _both_ needed to complete it. That means it either is a useless endeavor, or very, very important."

"I'll let my ego choose there; I'll take the second one." Hackett said. He stood up and got his tooth brush. "And I think I will join you in that original idea. Sleep."

Martin got up and they both walked out of Hackett's room, to the joint restroom on deck one. "How long until we reach Shanxi?"

To Hackett's surprise, Martin had his own toothbrush with him, which he promptly got out of his pocket. "At the current speed, about 36 hours." Hackett stared at Martin for a few moments as he positioned himself in such a way to share the sink. "Why do you have your toothbrush with you? Are you challenging me to a teeth brush contest?" Both men chuckled.

"No. But together with the storage room which I am forced to share, we also share a bathroom with multiple similar storage rooms; all filled with people. I'll give you one guess to the cleanliness of that one bathroom." The sarcasm could be clearly heard in Martin's voice, as he applied toothpaste on his brush.

"I can only imagine. Ok, permission granted." Hackett chuckled. Martin and Steve started brushing.

* * *

"Shanxi orbital control, this is the Icarus, please come in." The attempt was repeated multiple times by the communications station without any response, as the Icarus slowly glided through space towards Shanxi. "They might be taking a break down there, Commander, or.." the communication officers tone suddenly changed from business to sarcastic amused "...our radio might not work yet."

"I am sure our radio is fine." Moretti said off hand, ignoring the obvious jab at the state of the ship. The last few days the Icarus has been moving towards the colony at a steady speed, while the crewmen were trying their best to get the myriad of systems installed and working. Due to the personal hygiene being at a low priority, the ship slowly began to smell of sweating people. This in turn started to affect people's mood.

Shanxi was the latest in a series of colonies set up by the expanding human space endeavor. Currently housing roughly 10 million people in various cities, in addition to a large amount of military personnel. Shanxi was mainly used as a training facility and a forward operating base for deep space exploring and mining operations. Although the colony possessed a space port, the decision of constructing a space station had not yet been made. The resource rich environment made a lot of people flock to Shanxi to find a new start and possibly some fortune.

The Icarus' sensors showed a busy space port, which were mostly military vessels. The communications officer tried to hail Shanxi control again. "Shanxi orbital control, this is the Icarus, please come in. Do you receive me?" Everybody on the bridge was now watching as the communications officer went over the settings and frequencies again. "Dammit, they should be receiving us."

"Switch to the backup." John Rutan interrupted.

"Yes... Done." A sigh was heard over the bridge. With the frustration mounting all throughout the crew, the sound became a familiar companion. "Oh, don't you start too." the communications officer murmured, while she kept pushing buttons. "Shanxi orbital control, this is the Icarus, please come in."

"Icarus, this is Shanxi orbital control. We wondered when you were going to contact us. Is everything ok?" The voice sounded worried.

"Yes, Shanxi, everything is ok. It seems our primary radio systems acted up." The communications officer looked at Commander Moretti, who gave a nod back. "We request permission to land."

"Permission granted, Icarus. Be advised, there is a storm approaching. It will be over the space port in 45 minutes."

"Thank you Shanxi orbital control. We will approach on the standard vectors. Icarus out." The communications officer ended the conversation.

"Ok, let's land this thing, Hammer." Moretti said. Then, her face frowned for a few instances. "We can land this ship safely, can we?" The genuine question made everybody look at Hammer. Hackett could not deny he felt apprehension too.

"Yes Commander. With the latest calibrations completed, we can land."

"Good. Make it happen." The temperature in the room seemed to lower by 5 degrees with that command. Nobody wanted to leave the relative safety of space in a half finished ship, least of all Hackett.

* * *

The belly hatch opened after what was unanimously agreed to be a nerve rattling landing, even though everything went surprisingly smooth. Commander Moretti, John Rutan, and Hackett stood at attention at the bottom of the ramp, when General Williams came walking towards them.

"At ease everybody." said the General in a calm deep voice. "Officially, I am not part of your command structure, but the Admiral is doing exercises, so I will take over some of the official stuff. You are Commander Moretti?" The man extended his hand, to be firmly shaken by Moretti.

"Yes sir. Next to me is my XO John Rutan, and my lead tactical officer 1st Lieutenant Steven Hackett."

"General." John Rutan greeted General Williams. The two man shook hands.

"Sir." Hackett saluted, which the General returned, followed by a handshake.

"Follow me, please." Williams said, while walking towards the space port, filled with military personnel. "Well, to start with the pleasantries: welcome to Shanxi. I heard that your ship is not in combat ready state, and that you are flying with a crew comprised of the original engineers."

"Correct, General. The ship was nowhere near ready when we were ordered to come here." Moretti said. There was something off in her tone of voice. _Wait, not even she knows what we are doing here?_

"I'll assign every engineer you need, and I can spare to get your ship closer to that state. As for the reason, I will see your staff in my office in the spaceport in 4 hours. That should give you enough time to direct and requisition a few things needed for your vessel."

"Understood General." Moretti said. _She really doesn't know!_ John Rutan and Hackett exchanged glares. There was no guesswork anymore. There was something important.

"There is something that else that I think you should know, however. We found another hyperspace gate. We call it the Shanxi-Theta gate. We are currently preparing a mission to activate it, and see what is on the other side." The General walked towards a large window, looking over a good part of the port city.

"Excuse the interruption sir, but I thought that the activation of an hyperspace gate involved only a few data bursts?" Hackett chimed in. The communications he had with David Glenn gave him a good amount of basic information about the gates.

"Yes, but this gate did not activate. There appears to be some battle damage. It is not much, though. We guess that someone got a lucky shot off, and thereby disabled the gate. But we won't know for sure until we get a closer look."

"Have we found any more habitable worlds, General?" Rutan asked.

"No. We have done substantial surveys of the surrounding systems some a week away at FTL speeds, but so far Shanxi is the only human habitable world in a good distance around." The General looked at his wristcom for a moment. "Ok, I have a prior engagement which I cannot miss. Meet me in 4 hours in my office."

"Yes sir." Moretti turned to the two of us. "We have a few hours to get some things in order, like life support and sanitary facilities. I suggest we focus at the basics first, so we don't suffer such an enormous lowering of moral during that unknown mission we obviously are going to get. Also, make sure we are getting stocked for a few months worth of travel."

"Yes ma'am." Came Hacketts reply. "But I have to ask, Commander: Did you really have no information about this whole ordeal?"

"No, I was kept just as much in the dark as you. I was told to get this ship here ASAP, and then we would get briefed on what to do further."

"I hate to state the obvious here, Commander" Rutan looked direct in Moretti's eyes, intent on making sure his point stuck, "but the ship is in no condition to get taken on any mission. We got lucky that we landed with no fuss at all."

"Then let's use every minute we have. We need to get this ship ready, whether we like it or not."

* * *

ASAP: As Soon As Possible.


	8. Chapter 7 The Relay

**Chapter 7 - The Relay**

General Williams did not disappoint. Within 15 minutes, 700 people came running towards the Icarus with tools and equipment. Some of it was even sealed shut and secured. Every engineer on board got assigned a room or a specific task, and a group of ground mechanics to get the job done as fast as possible. The ship, normally manned by about 80 people, all of a sudden was packed with people screaming, hammering, drilling, sawing and welding. The sound was deafening, and reverberating through the entire ship. The Commander and XO Rutan where shouting orders all over the ship, trying to coordinate an organized chaos of people. Moretti put Rutan in charge of the technical works, as he was more adapt at that task. She took the allocation of resources and requisitions of parts and supplies. Thankfully, most parts where already on the ship. It took about 15 minutes, all of which Hackett was guiding small groups through the ship to their assigned workplaces, before he was called to run an errant.

"You called, Commander?" Hackett said to Moretti, out of breath from all the running and lifting boxes through the ship.

"Yes. I have a small list with supplies and parts that I need you to get. You can use this signed standing order from General Williams to get past any red tape or stalling tactics." Moretti replied.

"Standing order? That is unusual?" Hackett mused as he scanned trough the list. "Can I take someone with me, as I have no idea about some of these parts. I won't know if I got the right ones."

"Yes, very unusual, but we got it, so we might as well use it." Moretti quickly gave a small group of dock workers new orders before continuing. "Who had you in mind?"

"A friend of mine, Martin de Krijger. He works as an engineer fitting the heat dispersion and recovery systems. He told me the lead engineer there has him is basically working as a pipe welder, which all the other guys here can do too."

"So why not take one of them?" Moretti looked puzzled with the specific request.

"Ma'am, this is still a classified vessel, meaning that the dock workers cannot see every part of this ship. That counts them all out concerning a few of the parts on this list. Martin I know, and trust. And he has the knowledge I need." Hackett explained. Moretti took a few seconds to weigh the decision.

"Ok. Get it done." Moretti decided. Hackett quickly got on the comm.

* * *

"Thanks for getting me out of there." Martin said with a smile on his face, "But now I am your errant-boy?"

"Of course. You wanted a more important function on the ship, and now you've got it." Hackett smiled back. "Truth is that some of these parts concern classified systems, so it had to be someone of the original crew. And since I got the assignment, well..." Hackett let the unfinished sentence hover in the air.

"Thanks." This time the response was genuine. Martin took a look at the list. "Most of this stuff they could have got with a digital requisition order within the hour. There are a few pieces on here that require some more work though. A couple of these shunts are technically not even produced yet, they are specific to the Icarus." Martin explained.

They were walking through the halls of the space port towards the requisition and maintenance warehouse that should have most of the parts they needed. A good part of the spaceport was just a couple of parking areas for ships, surrounded by warehouses and simple block-shaped buildings. There were several parts that even dated from the original settling here, and clearly showed their origins as prefab buildings. However, with the military and civil spaceship traffic increasing as it has been doing for the last couple of years, the main incentive has been in increasing the space ports capacity, instead of replacing the old, simple and ugly buildings. The only new and modern looking building was the passenger terminal, which was designed as the gateway to Shanxi for tourists and people that wanted to live in the rapidly growing colony.

The 'shopping mall' laden with ship parts was situated in one of the quick-build sections of the space port, commandeered by the military to supply and refurbish parts coming from their space going vessels and mechanized ground forces that were in dire need of repair. It was filled with a large amount of mechanics and people seemingly haggling left and right to get their parts as quick as possible. The military liked the idea of giving out the refurbished parts first, to reduce the costs for parts. However, most requisition officers did not want the second hand materials and parts. The haggling was their attempts to reduce the amounts of second hand parts to a minimum.

"I hope you can haggle, Steve." Martin implied. He was looking forward to see how Hackett was going to negotiate his was out of some very stern looking people who know how to make a good deal.

"I don't have to. I have a written standing order from general Williams to get these parts, no questions asked, right now and brand new." Hackett said with a satisfied grin on his face. He was not looking forward to haggling. _If requisition orders were just done before they landed, they could have the parts standing by._ Quickly ignoring the second thought about the refurbished parts still being included in that practice.

"Really? Damn." Martin stated, somewhat disappointed. "Has that every happened before?"

"Not that I know of. But let's make good use of it."

* * *

As they walked around the last corner to the warehouse they were going first, they saw a second lieutenant haggle with a gunsmith about several gun parts. The man had a space approved marine uniform, which contrasted with his dark skin. "I think that is Andy over there." Martin said, while pointing in the general direction.

"Andy!" Hackett called towards the haggling pair at the gunsmith. Hackett and Martin altered their paths to meet up with him. Anderson turned around briefly to see a first lieutenant come in his direction. Not recognizing Hackett, he saluted immediately.

"Sir?"

"Oh, at ease Andy!" Hackett said, now clearly in view. Anderson's face turned into a big smile.

"_First lieutenant_ Steven Hackett. Long time no see. Since when did they decide to get your rank up?" Anderson greeted his friend. Only then did he look at the man next to Hackett. "And Martin too? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in earth orbit?"

Martin replied first "Yeah. But they had a special assignment that got me a ride on a military vessel, so here I am." That was about as vague as it got, but Martin was not allowed to say more. Anderson read the message from his face.

"I understand." he said, leaving further questions for what they were.

"What are you haggling about here?" Hackett asked Anderson.

"Oh, I need some parts to maintain and inspect my Gauss rifle, but I can only get the refurbished stuff. I had that before, and it failed in the field, almost costing people their lives. I want new and calibrated equipment this time, but he is giving me grief." Anderson replied, clearly within earshot of the man behind the counter.

"Lieutenant, I have my instructions and I need to follow those too. Sorry if that is not to your liking, but the calibrated parts are expensive, rare, and only on special order. So I cannot accommodate you." The man had a harsh look on his face. Clearly Anderson had been standing here a while. Hackett took only a moment to decide.

"Give this man his parts, Sergeant." Hackett said. "Consider that an order." Anderson gave a quick look at Hackett, surprise clearly visible on his face.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, but I have higher orders." The man behind the counter replied. "If you want to have them that badly, you need to take it up with Colonel Guderian."

Hackett showed his standing order. "I have standing orders from General Williams. Give this man his parts, Sergeant." The sergeant looked very closely at the orders.

"Right away, sir." And he walked into the back.

"Where did you get that?" Anderson asked. "And can you just use that?"

"Directly from General Williams himself, to be used to avoid any red tape, for getting any parts we need to get the ship going."

"And you can just use it whenever you want? Won't you get into trouble?" Anderson began to look a bit worried.

"Ah, maybe. But you are an elite soldier, and those need the best equipment. If you said that faulty equipment nearly cost a life, then you need it. It is that simple. And if I get into trouble for helping an elite soldier, than I will handle it." Hackett replied resolutely.

Anderson chuckled. "Yes sir. And thanks." The Sergeant came back, and handed Anderson his parts.

"Here you go, sir." And after handing the parts to Anderson, showed him a receipt. "Please sign the order here."

"Thank you Sergeant" Anderson replied. Then, looking at Hackett and Martin, "Care to get a get something to drink?"

"Sorry, I can't. I have requisitions to do, and actually not all that much time. But if you'd like, you can come along." Hackett offered in return.

"Ok."

* * *

Walking though the warehouse, looking for his parts to be delivered at the Icarus, the three men talked casually amongst themselves.

"They found a new relay in the system. I am assigned to the Midway for now to lead the contingent of marines aboard." Anderson remarked.

"Have you finished that 'villa' school you set out to complete?" Martin asked.

"Yeah. It was no walk in the park either. Several people actually lost their lives in the real assignments that were introduced into the later parts of the training."

"They put trainees on active missions?" Hackett looked surprised at that notion.

"Yeah, we are trainees, but by the time we get missions we are well along in the training. You need to understand that there are seven tiers in the N-school. Several of these tiers can only be obtained with active combat. The kind that can get you killed. Even at N1, you are already a fully fledged commando, only in standard combat. Follow-up tiers go into detail on a specific section. I am an N6, and already saw quite some missions. The N7 tier, which is the highest, can only be awarded to you during active field deployment, and usage of your skill as an N6." Anderson explained.

"I understand." Hackett said. He thought for a few seconds about his own past in the marines. "I could never do it. I quit when things got hard." He more or less confessed.

"Don't sell yourself short. Not everybody is cut out to be a marine, or a full time ground soldier. There is no shame in finding your own limit." Anderson replied.

"What happened? Why did you quit?" Martin carefully asked, still remembering the last time the question was asked.

It took Hackett a few moments to swallow the upcoming emotions away. "I was assigned on a mission in Africa against some of the last religious zealots. The mission went well, but the exit got... messy. They gave me a medal for the mission, but I thought it was tainted with blood." Hackett replied. The somber tone in his voice betraying the pain he still felt. _I killed all those people._

Both men were silent for a few moments. Hackett continued. "I admire you for the decision you made, Andy. I just know that at some point, I could not stand the blood dripping from the medal anymore. I send it back, and resigned the next day." _I should be in jail. Not in command._

Anderson bent his knees so he could intercept Hackett's line of sight towards the ground. "You did the right thing."

"That is what everybody keeps telling me! 'You got the medal, so you did something right' or 'it is war, people get hurt, it is inevitable'. They just don't understand!" He looked directly at Anderson now. "And it seems that you don't either." Hackett felt a wave of disappointment flow over him.

Anderson reeled back a bit. "That is not what I meant, Steve. I have been in combat too. I understand... What I meant was: you made the right choice to leave. You would only get people killed if you cannot make decisions in the field. You will have to live with what happened, it comes with the job, but you have gained a lot since... For one: you found your niche." Anderson tried to give a positive spin to the pain Hackett felt, but the words came out awkward. Hackett's face betrayed the emotions going through him.

"Sorry. I..."

"No. Don't be. I understand. Let's just leave it at that." Anderson said. It was silent for a few more seconds. "And don't be ashamed for leaving either. You are good at your job, or you would not be promoted. Like I said: there is no shame in admitting your own limits, only in denying them."

"He is right." Martin chimed in. "The experience will help you in other challenges along the way. You are third in command on a starship now, and you are needed to keep us safe. Your experience will allow you to keep a cool head under fire. And that is something every member of the crew _needs_ to stay alive." Anderson looked at Martin. The silent message going back and forth strengthened both their resolve.

"Martin is right. What does not kill you, will make you stronger. You will see. Who knows, maybe you are just where you need to be." Anderson finished.

Hackett looked at his two friends. The pain still in his eyes, mixed with guilt. "Maybe. I.. I will try to keep that in mind. Thank you for... that."He let a deep sigh escape him."Let's talk about something else, please."

The three men walked through the warehouse looking for the parts that was on Hackett's list. No words were exchanged after Hackett's request to change the subject. The awkwardness of the situation had not yet subsided enough. After several minutes, Anderson decided to try again.

"You know, I saw Glenn not too long ago." This got the attention of both men.

"Really? Where?"

"He is assigned to the science vessel Tesla. He is part of the team that is going to attempt to activate the hyperspace gate." Anderson stuck his head between a few boxes, attempting to read the labels.

"Really? Him? Isn't he supposed to be biting dust on Mars?" Martin giving Anderson a weird look, as he can only see his rear stick out from between two boxes. "And what the hell are you doing, Andy?"

The reply came back muffled. "One of the parts is supposed to be here, but they put the wrong box here. Perhaps the right one is behind..." Anderson reverted to some grunting noises as he attempted to read the back label. "Yeah, here it is. Steve, I got another part for you!"

Hackett answered from behind his own chosen set of boxes: "Thanks!"

"Back to Glenn, though. I heard he managed to get the Mars ruins working completely, and even managed to get a few nice data caches. Unfortunately they were more cultural stuff about the Protheans, instead of new technology. But hey, he got a 10 for effort." Anderson chuckled, happy to now be standing upright once again.

"That man never gets a break." Martin chimed. "Maybe he should just brush his teeth more."

"Some plastic surgery might help too." Hackett added. They all chuckled.

"Look who is talking!" Anderson jabbed at Hackett. "That scar could use some work too, I bet it glows in the dark."

"You want one too?" Hackett answered the challenge, quickly gaining back his good mood.

"Like you would hit him now, he is humanities first Super Rambo now." Martin leaning back against the racks with a smile on his face.

"Maybe, but I can order him to sit on his ass while I, ehh, add to his physique." Hackett mused. "I do outrank him."

"Eh oh." Anderson feigned fear as he quickly looked around for a fast exit, still chuckling.

"So they are going to use a dust-biting, smelly, ugly man from Mars, who has not seen civilization for what, more than a year now? To travel through space on a converted cargo vessel, to repair a hyperspace gate that is light years more advanced than anything mankind has, and _then_ they expect it to even work too? Am I the only one that sees a problem there?" Martin decided to try to get back to the original conversation, without missing out on the chance to land a jab on Glenn too.

"I got another part here for you!" Anderson called. "And I don't think that is very fair. We all know Glenn is quite smart, and we all have no idea what kind of information they uncovered from those Mars ruins after he got them working. He could be one of the resident experts by now."

"They have been studying that thing on Mars as soon as we found it. The only thing we learned from it is how to use hyperspace gates to travel between systems. We do not even know exactly how old those things are, so we guess about 50.000 years." Hackett decided to join the discussion. "That is a total crapshoot, though. It is a guess based on nothing, other than finding the ruins."

"Is that what Glenn told you?" Anderson asked.

"Well, he is not the only one who had to read up on them , you know. Serving on a starship means I need to know a few things about them as well." Hackett looked to his left. "Ah, found the last part I needed from this warehouse. Let's get back to the front desk, and get this stuff delivered."

"You sure you got the pizza too? Might be your last chance." Anderson suggested.

"Maybe you can use the standing order for the pizza too, perhaps you get it a few minutes earlier this time. You know, when the pizza is still hot?" Martin added.

"A written standing order from a General, to get pizza. I don't think they are going to appreciate that much." Hackett chuckled. "All I know about that hyperspace relay they found, is that the scouting probe could not activate it for some reason. That is why they are going with a small taskforce."

"Yeah, the Midway is going to be part of that task force. Speaking of which..." Anderson looked at his Wristcom, "I really need to go there, it is going to set off any minute now." Anderson began walking quickly towards the exit, while shouting over his shoulder: "Good meeting you two again. See you all later! And good luck on your mission!" Two steps later, he turned around the corner, nearly in a full run.

"Yeah.. bye to you to. " Martin lamely finished, as Hackett was looking over his parts list.

"Martin, can you take a look at this? I am not sure this is the correct part." Hackett showed Martin an open box, showing an unknown electrical device.

"Hey, they have produced those shunts already? They should not be available yet." Martin looked at it for a full 2 seconds. "Huh. Well, it is the correct part, so yeah. Let's get it." Hackett closed the box again and put it back on the cart. "Is this the whole list?"

"No, we need a few things more. Corporal, I need these things, now." Hackett said sternly, as he switched subjects mid sentence.

* * *

_Dammit, why the hell did they had to ask me for this job._ Glenn looked up from a chaotically ordered desk, full with papers, books and schematics. _I just had to find the data cache about the hyperspace gates. I just had to open my mouth._ He shuffled through his papers looking for an insight into how to approach this historic mission. _How the _hell _am I supposed to know what the _hell _I am doing, after just reading through that data cache once._ A heavy sigh was heard in the small room he was occupying.

_Go to space, they said. It will be fun they said._ He stood up and walked to the one big window in his research lab. _Why, oh, why did I have to open my mouth. I just wanted to go home. But noohoo, I had to make an intelligent comment._ He threw the pad he was holding through the room, until it hit the wall with a loud clang, and landed on his bed. Another sigh escaped him. _4 weeks of intense space walk training, countless hours of discussions with people who clearly know a lot more than I do, and still they select me for this mission._ He walked to one of the lazy chairs next to his bed, and flopped down, still staring out the window.

The room was not that large, however it was rather luxurious, compared to some of the others. Glenn concluded that this room would normally be reserved for the lead researcher or the guest of honor. _Apparently that is me. If only they knew._ The room was only recently built into the ship he was traveling on. Originally a cargo vessel, the ship was overhauled and refurbished into a science vessel, the _Tesla_. By no means a modern vessel, or even the most capable, it was very sturdy in its design, making it capable of withstanding the large amount of modifications to the vessels inner and outer hull in order to convert it to a science vessel. It was chosen for its boxy design, common to all the serving cargo vessels, even before the alliance was formed.

- _"This is the captain speaking, prepare for departure"_ sounded over the speakers. Not long after the captains message, a loud series of clanks could be heard, signifying the ship releasing the docking clamps, and walkways. Not long after that, a small static charge went through the ship, signaling the activation of the mass effect core.

While Glenn looked out the window, still feeling rather overwhelmed about the whole mission, he saw the ship take off and accelerate towards space. Around it, 5 more vessels where taking off, and either following or leading the Tesla out in space. Due to the age of the vessel, the acceleration was rather low, and so was the faster than light capabilities. On multiple occasions the synchronized jumping performed by the military to allow guarded convoys to travel through hostile space, simply could not go slow enough. This resulted in the convoy falling apart, and the ships that lost the tracking signals came to a dead stop. The convoy that had these stragglers where those fleets equipped with a vessel similar to the Tesla. And the only external difference between the Tesla and other cargo vessels was the scientific equipment. The interior of these vessels was only changed concerning the function of the vessel, not the means and speed of travel.

Glenn walked back towards his desk, and changed the desktop to the convoy status screen, showing the convoy heading for the Shanxi-Theta gate. One of the vessels was another converted cargo vessel, the Wolga. She was converted to a support vessel, carrying the convoys supplies and maintenance equipment, should the trip take a lot longer than planned. The Tesla and Wolga were escorted by 4 frigates: Midway, Kursk, Tobruk and the heavy frigate Saigon, which lead the convoy.

_- "Investigative crew: prepare for spacewalk. We will arrive at the Shanxi-Theta gate in 10 minutes."_, the captain ordered over the ship-wide communication systems.

"Here we go. The highway to hell." Glenn muttered in his empty room to nobody in particular, while he stood up with another sigh, and walked towards the door. "Never thought it would be a comfortable trip."

He glanced at his most prized possession: a sliver of a Prothean artifact, found near the Mars ruins, under a small amount of dirt. The black sliver was rectangular, thin and with a slight outward curve on both sides and a green single curving line across it. The sliver was about the size of an old fashioned Smartphone with touch screen Glenn had seen in a museum once, capable of fitting in your hand. He had found it almost 6 months ago, and it appeared completely inert. _One day, I will get you working, and crack your secrets. _Glenn walked through the door. _There has to be a way. _The door closed behind him.

On the shelf, carefully mounted in a box with a transparent container inside, the sliver hummed softly for a few seconds, lighting up in a green glow along the edges, before becoming inert again.

* * *

Anderson went to the cargo bay of the Midway, after having talked to the captain. He was assigned temporary command of the small contingent of marines aboard, for the duration of this trip, before being reassigned to the Shanxi base to oversee training exercises. It was not the career he as hoping for, but the cartels were not very active at the moment. The launch of the Geneva class cruiser made their endeavors a lot more dangerous. High command theorized they were re-strategizing. In the mean time, their smuggling activities and combat fleet was nearly destroyed, or so the theory went. It meant little work for N6 marines at the moment, as the rest of the Alliance was relatively peaceful.

Anderson arrived in the cargo bay and addressed the soldiers. "Attention on deck!" he shouted, quickly followed by a sound of moving feet and frantic soldiers moving to their lineup positions. "My name is 2nd Lieutenant David Anderson, and I am your commanding officer for the duration of this trip."

He walked past the soldiers standing in front of him, giving each of them a once-over. Most were ordinary marines, with some extra Zero-G training and space qualification. "It is my duty to make sure you apes are capable of not only holding a rifle, but know how to shoot it as well." Anderson stopped in front of a female marine, holding a just cleaned rifle.

"Marine, present arms!" Anderson commanded in his best drill-sergeant voice. The marine presented her rifle for inspection. Anderson feigned not to be impressed. "Is this the best you can do, marine?"

"Sir, yes sir." The marine answered.

"Then why is this rifle not assembled correctly?" Anderson questioned.

"Sir, I was not finished with my cleaning, sir."

"Are you saying, you _can_ correctly assemble a rifle correctly? Because this looks like your slacking, marine!" Anderson kept up the pretense, but secretly, he loved this. Although, the rifle was spotless, it appeared to not be assembled correctly.

"Sir, yes sir. I was testing several setups for modifications, sir." The marine kept her composure, but her eyes followed the weapon. "It was an attempt to increase the effectiveness of both the scope and the shouldering, sir."

Anderson now took a second look at the weapon. The barrel was plugged with a laser dot, used for sighting the scope. Several electrical components and their covers were only loosely mounted, for ease of modification. The butt stock also showed signs of modification.

"Hmm, I see." Anderson handed the rifle back to the marine. "What is your name, marine?"

"Sir, Mirthe Tamara Macaslan, Sir." Mirthe said proudly, standing up a bit straighter.

"Do you have a rank, Marine Macaslan?" Anderson asked, with the smile clearly hearable in his voice. The marines were in exercise clothing, not showing any rank.

"Private 1st class, sir." Mirthe answered.

"We will talk later, private." Anderson said, as he walked past the other of his group, continuing his introduction. "I am an N6 marine. And I will make sure you can keep up with me. Because if you cannot, I will drag you along by your balls! We might be sitting pretty on this ship, but that does not mean we cannot improve ourselves. I will personally see what each of you can do in the coming hours. Anything you fail, I will teach you. So expect training in the days to come!"

"Sir, yes sir." The whole group shouted at once.

He took one more look at the 16 marines under his command. Some clearly had combat experience, while others looked as green as they came. Anderson did not feel like answering questions."Dismissed."

_This job is going to suck._

* * *

The relay convoy was positioned at a safe distance from the newly discovered Shanxi-Theta relay, looking at it with scanners and high powered optics mounted to both the frigates and the Tesla. Taking surface scans with laser scanners, they attempt to look for external damage, or signs of hazards from the relay.

In the operations room of the Tesla, the group of scientists and engineers is carefully looking at every centimeter of the gate. "Have you already send the list of communication signals to the array?"

"Yes, and I have not gotten any response. It looks like the transmitter is just gone." A grey-haired scientist looked up from his screen. "That does sound like something we can fix, though."

Around the older man, the sound of people typing filled the ambiance. Soft spoken discussions about what can be damage, and what is just space debris scarring, occasionally interrupted the typing sounds. Glenn sat behind one of the scanner stations, looking at the back-end of the gate, until his eyes caught something off.

"Look at this." He spoke up loudly. Immediately several senior engineers and scientists looked at his screen. "This does not look like an impact of mere space debris."

One of the scientists put another set of old fashioned glasses on his nose. "Yeah, that looks more like a hyper-velocity round impact." He took a second look. "Yeah, I think that is just what it is. I have seen this type of damage before in high density metals after a space battle."

"Since when were you part of a space battle?" One of the other people in the room asked the older grey man.

"I wasn't. The science ship I was on was intercepted by a cartel vessel. We could not maneuver very well; it was a rather old and crappy vessel. However, our captain still managed to evade most long range shots before the military came to help. The cartel tried to disable our vessel. Afterwards, we had to repair the damage or the mission to Titan was off. I was one of the lucky ones to go out and do the work. The damage on some of the shielding panels for the main reactor looked just like that." He pointed at the shallow oval shape angled impact hole displayed on the screen.

"So, somebody had a battle here." Glenn muttered out loud.

"Probably. Either that, or just a very unlucky stray shot." A senior engineer said to his left.

"Still, this does not make sense." Glenn muttered again.

"What do you mean?" Now every set of eyes was firmly fixed on Glenn, as he performed another of his signature sighs. _Guys, I am _not _the expert here. You can stop looking now!_

"A hyperspace gate should have multiple backups, to prevent just such an instance." Instantly, everybody around Glenn switched to thinking mode. All the foreheads of the scientists contorted, signifying deep thought. Glenn, however, instantly saw the next step. "Ok, let's just look at all the backup parts first, before we make extra effort to save this one." Nodded agreements and grunts were heard over the science deck.

It did not take long before the camera's had the backup communication units firmly in view. "The same damage on all of them." One of the scientist muttered. "How can that be?"

Glenn wanted to face-palm, but restrained himself at the last moment. Not everyone had the advantage of being friends with down-to-earth soldiers. "Once, is a fluke. Twice, a coincidence. More than twice? A pattern." He said. He waited for a few seconds to let it sink in. "Someone wanted this gate to stop being useful. This was deliberate."

"Why would you want to disable a hyperspace gate? And who?" Glenn did not have to answer this one, somebody else beat him to it.

"Well, the Protheans were wiped out, it could have been a defensive tactic to slow the enemy down, give them time to rebuild or form some type of defense?" Again, everybody nodded and grunted in agreements.

"Now the big question: How do we fix it?" Glenn pointed out. Everybody in the room switched to thinking mode again. An assortments of 'hmm's and 'No.. that would not work' was muttered time and time again, as all scientists and engineers came up with possible solutions and dismissing them after a few seconds of thought.

"Maybe we can salvage components. We have never seen the technologies of the gates close and personal, so maybe, if we can salvage certain components from each of the transmitters, we might be able to find out how they work, and might also be able to reproduce or repair at least one of them." the senior engineer said to Glenn's left.

"Yes, that might be a good idea. But if this _was_ a delaying tactic, than I think it would be wise to assume we will see this type of damage at the other end as well." The grey scientist spoke.

A sudden thought popped up in Glenn. "We have done tests on the materials these hyperspace gates are made of, yes?"

"Yeah? What are you thinking?"

"Well, from what I know of those tests, the energy needed to just dent the outer hull would be comparable to about twice the power currently produced by our most powerful rail-guns." Glenn pointed at the displayed damage. "If that is the power required for just a dent, what kind of weapon did that?" The grey scientist followed the line of thought through to its conclusion.

"And since the Protheans are no more, how powerful were their opponents?" Everybody was silent again, as the words slowly sank in.

"Exactly."

"Perhaps we should rename this gate 'the hells-gate'?" The attempt of humor fell flat.

After a few minutes of silence and reflection, Glenn spoke up first. "With spacewalks, we should be able to get something going in a few days." Everybody nodded silently.

"I'll inform the captain."


	9. Chapter 8 The Mission

**Chapter 8 - The mission - Icarus**

Hackett looked to his left, as he and Commander Moretti were the only two of the staff to take General Williams invitation for the briefing. They were driven to one of the underground bunkers that littered Shanxi, and were now standing for the 5th check post to verify their credentials.

"How many more?" Hackett asked in a humorous tone. "You think we'll get to 10?"

"Keep it to yourself, Steve." Moretti ended the apparent attempt at humor. Hackett looked at Moretti. She was clearly not in the mood for jokes, as she had an all-business look in her eyes.

"Yes ma'am." Hackett replied in a hushed tone, as they walked into a heavy sound proofed room, with double doors and very thick walls. "Wow." Hackett muttered, as he walked into a room with the tables in an oval arrangement. The room was mostly dark, with only a few lights in the middle, and one side had a large projector screen assembly. Their footsteps sounded dampened on the thick carpet, as they walked to a small group of people sitting close to the projector assembly. Behind them, the doors where closed, and a soft fizzle could be heard as the room was electronically and physically shielded from the outside. "We are in a secure room." Hackett spoke softly.

"Yeah, I suspected as much." Moretti spoke equally as softly, just before stopping before General Williams, and a few other high officers. "Staff Commander Chiari Moretti, reporting as ordered." she said, while standing at attention. Hackett followed suit.

"At ease, Commander, Lieutenant." General Williams said. "Where is the rest of your senior staff, Commander?"

"Due to the urgency of the situation, and the high amount of work to be done, XO John Rutan and First Lieutenant Diego Garcia Ramos decided that their time was better spend getting the ship ready, sir. John Rutan is the usual CO for test flights at Phoenix Works, and Lieutenant Ramos is the chief engineer, making their involvement in the current ship work vital."

"Understood, Commander." General Williams said. He looked them both in the eyes for a few moments before continuing in an all-business voice. "What is going to be said in this room, will stay in this room, until you are well underway, is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Moretti and Hackett both said simultaneously.

"Take your seats, everyone." Williams replied. Everybody took a seat, while Williams remained standing in the middle of the oval seat arrangement. "First, let me introduce everybody: General Torres of R&D, General Webster of Alliance Intelligence department, Fleet Admiral Cooper, and Admiral Santos of the 63rd scout flotilla."

For the first time since entering the room, Hackett took a few moments to look at the high ranked people in the room. General Torres had a stoic look. His grey hair betrayed his age, but his calm features showed a high amount of experience. His uniform was spotless and the creases well pressed in, showing a highly disciplined man.

General Webster was the opposite. His uniform was more loose fitting. His almost pale appearance looked like he had not slept well in a few days. His eyes constantly moved around, as to look for threats. He was obviously calm, but Hackett could clearly see his guard was all but down. Fleet Admiral Cooper, the current head of the entire Alliance armada, was calm and collected. He radiated authority with his age, and by the looks of it, knew that he did, and loved it. Hackett knew that there were rumors about the vanity of this man, but also his ferocity and his ability to lead under fire. Despite his strangeness, he was a brilliant tactician. His uniform was also spotless, as to reflect his status even more.

Admiral Santos was the only female in the group, and one of only a handful of female Admirals. It was well known that she earned her stripes by taking out many smuggling bases and ships with fast and daring raids. Her command for the shout flotilla fit her like a glove. Hackett knew she was a no-nonsense person, and her appearance was somewhere between General Torres and General Webster. Immaculate, but not overly present. This was definitely not a group to underestimate. And them being in one room signified something big.

"Generals, Admirals." Moretti greeted everybody in an efficient manner.

"You have been granted an important mission, which will change the future of the human race, and perhaps it's place in the galaxy as we know it today." General Webster said.

"As is standard practice when we settle and survey a new region of space, we send unmanned vessels into deep space, to lay the groundwork for a manned scouting mission later." Admiral Santos said. "Those initial manned missions are usually the job of the 63 scout flotilla."

"Yes. 8 weeks ago, one of the probes picked up something... different." General Webster said, as General Williams pushed a button on the central computer console, and showed a large 3d projection of an unknown solar system.

"The system is currently nameless. The designation is J25-85, until we name it. Two hours into its survey, the scouting drone picked up a gravity disturbance, similar to a starship exiting FTL travel. Further scans revealed an increase in electrical activity on the 4th planet, a gas giant." Williams explained. "And that is not the only thing the drone picked up."

Williams engaged a recording of a FLT transmission. Among the static and occasional data corruption, was a sound of a voice, speaking an unknown language. It was unlike any language on Earth, relying heavily on clicks and chirps among the more normal words, the voice also had a clear flanging effect.

"This is what we got, after a part of the original transmission was deciphered by running it through the combined power of all major computers connected to the extranet, for a total duration of 4 weeks. Their encryption is incredibly complex, and multi layered. On several occasions we just lost the data during decryption attempts." General Torres said.

"Aliens." Hackett spoke out loud, putting one and one together. "That is why you need the Icarus."

The Generals and Admirals all looked at Hackett for a moment, some showing displeasure on their face for being interrupted.

"Could they be Protheans?" Moretti spoke up, forgetting protocol as well.

"We don't know." General Webster said.

"Do we know how they look like? Was there a visual signal imbedded in the transmission?" Hackett asked.

"Most likely, yes. But we do not know that for certain. We have not been able to decipher the parts of the message with high density data flow." General Torres answered.

"Do we know what they said? I mean, uuhh, do we have any indication how to decipher the language?" Moretti asked, eyes wide open in an emotion somewhere between shock and surprise. She too had connected the dots, and followed Hacketts logic.

"No, we currently have no idea what they are saying." General Torres answered.

"Do we know if they are hostile?" Hackett asked again.

"Again, we don't know. The probe is still working, but the disturbance in the scans left the system a few hours later." Admiral Santos answered.

"Do we know what their ships look like?" Hackett tried again.

"No. The time it took for the directed signal of the probe to reach us was longer than the possible alien presence remained in the system. We had no time to redirect it, unfortunately." Admiral Santos explained. "Thankfully, we did not lose the probe. And that is where you come in."

"Sir?" Moretti asked.

"As the Lieutenant already guessed, this unknown contact is why we needed the Icarus. She is currently the only ship that has the ability to hide from sensors, if only for a little while. We know the Icarus is nowhere near ready yet, but we hope that you can complete the necessary systems in time." Admiral Santos zoomed the 3d map out, revealing their current location at Shanxi and the location of system J25-85. "Your mission is to proceed at best possible speed to system J25-85. Your goal is to locate and retrieve the probe currently holding station in that system, and bring it back."

"Sir? Excuse me for asking, but why are we just going after that probe?" Hackett asked.

"The probe send only a small amount of the data back to us, per its directive when it comes in contact with a possible alien life form. This is done so that the chance of detection is much lower. The total amount of data will then remain on the probe for later retrieval. This will most likely include a more detailed scan of the disturbance on the sensors, and a better data integrity of the message we just managed to decipher."

"Are we to look for the alien life forms sir?" Moretti asked.

"No. We do not know anything at the moment. Caution is the better part of valor for now. The Icarus is in no position to fight off an aggressive alien opponent. And since the weapons are not installed yet, or are just not functioning, you will not be armed for this mission. You are to get in, get the probe, turn around and get back. After evaluation of the data gathered by the probe, we will determine further action." Admiral Santos clarified.

"And what if we encounter these aliens?" Moretti asked.

"You are to avoid contact if possible. If all else fails, steer the probe into the sun, and leave as fast as you can. Your primary goal is to get the probe, and you are to do so without being detected. That is why we wanted the Icarus." Admiral Santos said. "I have hereby included the Icarus into the 63 scout flotilla. You are to proceed to the system J25-85 at maximum speed. The expected travel time will be around 3 to 4 weeks to reach the system, depending on your final top speed."

"Why, sir? Why are we to avoid contact?" Hackett asked, which earned him a stern look from Moretti.

General Webster quickly responded. "It is ok, Commander." And after directing himself towards Hackett. "We are currently in the dark about these aliens. They could be our best friends, or they might spell our end. We need intel first, so we understand what we are dealing with. The moment you are supposed to arrive in J25-85, the military will be on alert, and will be ready to assemble a quick reaction force in a moment's notice, should we encounter them. Until we know more of what and who we are dealing with, we should avoid contact, for our own safety."

"Understood sir." Hackett responded. Moretti and Hackett looked at each other for a moment, before General Williams continued.

"For this mission the Icarus will be carrying a highly classified device, which is still in its prototype stage, called a Quantum Entanglement Device, or QED for short. The device is very sensitive, saps quite some power, but allows for unlimited communications across the universe; if theory is to be believed. It also has a drawback however, it can only connect to one other device, which will be mounted and operating here, on Shanxi. As the device is in development here, it was decided to construct a second prototype while you are underway, and sync it with yours, allowing for direct contact. The engineers are installing it as we speak."

"What about the crew, sir? We currently have mainly the engineers from Phoenix works on board." Moretti asked.

"Yes, and although unfortunate, that will remain so. Their engineers are needed to get all the systems installed and working. And since the ship is only of limited size, you will have to make due with a mixed military - civilian crew. We have been assured that each of the engineers is experienced in their task, and that all of them can work in a command structure." Admiral Santos said. "And this mission is a stealth retrieval mission, to which the ship is suited. We will not send civilians into a clear combat situation if we had the choice."

"Understood, sir." Moretti said.

* * *

After a briefing of about an hour, the doors to the secure room where opened and the Generals and Admirals quickly left. Hackett looked at Moretti, and was about to say something, as she quickly interrupted him. "Don't, Steve."

"Ah... Ehh.. Oh... Shit." Hackett said, hesitation clearly audible in his voice, as it took a few moments for the situation to, again, be fully processed. "Yeah. This will take some time to fully process." He said vaguely.

A low voice interrupted them from behind. "The military as a whole had been working on it for several weeks now." Hackett and Moretti looked behind them, as General Williams came closer. "And I had about the same reaction. Let's go to my office."

They walked though the bunker, until they stood in front of a heavy locked door. As General Williams led them in, he closed it behind them. "The situation is so strange and unknowing, that I am putting the whole of Shanxi on high alert, especially when you are about to return. As you are to do the mission without weapons, and are mostly manned with civilian engineers, I hereby offer a marine detachment to be stationed at your ship, if you want it."

Moretti and Hackett looked at each other, silently discussing the option. After a few moments, Hackett nodded to Moretti. "Yes, General, I think that is wise." She accepted after a few moments.

They both took a moment to look around the office. The bunker was a construction of steel and metal, but the office was decorated with an elaborate wood design on the walls and ceiling. The fact that the bunker was underground was compensated for by a large screen that portrayed a view of a high quality camera on top of the complex. The screen was the rooms de facto window. Hackett did feel at ease in the room, it had a warm and calm interior, despite the exuberant appliance of wood to make this room appear anything else than a bunker. When glancing at Moretti, Hackett could see she had a similar opinion of the room. He decided to focus his attention back to the situation at hand.

"General, have we any idea where the Shanxi-Theta gate is going to? Could it be close to where we are going?" Hackett pondered.

"I have heard no indication or even theory to where this gate is supposed to send the convoy we send. Normally, the communication protocol that activates it, also gives an indication to the coordinates the gates lead to, at least, that is when the gate is a direct one. We don't even know that, at the moment." General Williams answered the question.

"Well, do we have an indication of an average range that these gates can send us? Perhaps that gives us a range of possible locations?" Hackett tried again. _Dammit, I sound like Martin or Glenn. I guess I just spend too much time with them._ Hackett smiled at that thought.

"I think the egg-heads already tried that line of thought, but the area of space they came up with is just too large to make any type of useful statement about it. But to answer your next question: Yes, part of that area was close to..." General Williams caught himself just in time, before adding "..your mission."

"Understood sir." Hackett replied.

"Ok, worst case: what if we are attacked here? What can we withstand?" Moretti asked, as she looked at Hackett who got a humorous look on his face now. Moretti answered the look with one of her own, capable of ripping cadets in two, signifying that Hackett better kept his mouth shut. Hackett suppressed a chuckle at the situation.

It did not take the General long to answer. "If they come with a raid, and they are comparable with our technology level, than we can handle that. If they come here in force, and they are comparable with our technology, it is only a matter of time before we would be overwhelmed. If they are far beyond our level of tech, then we are doomed." General Williams said. "We have a sizable amount of troops and equipment on this planet, but this is not earth. We have no large fleet segments to defend Shanxi, nor are we going to get any as that would leave other areas exposed. We also have no heavy industrial centers to keep producing heavy weapons. We can do a lot here, but in the face of a large scale attack, we are only delaying the inevitable."

"Hence the need for the Icarus. I understand, General." Moretti deadpanned the conversation.

As they pondered their own thoughts on what else they could be doing to prepare. Silently, they all grabbed something to drink out of the fridge that General Williams had cleverly hidden in his office, behind a beautiful panel, enriched with wood carvings. After taking a few sips, General Williams was the first to break the silence. "When can you be underway?"

Moretti and Hackett looked at each other for a moment. "I don't exactly have a time schedule for you, General. But perhaps my XO or chief engineer can answer that question. I suspect within a few hours to days. Even so, the ship will only be capable of a fraction of its design specification, as most systems will not be installed or working."

"Stealth systems are the most important. You should depart the moment when you can be sure that those will work at the time you arrive. You will not receive weapons or ammo, even if you manage to get several of them to operational levels."

"I still don't think that that is wise sir. We should in the very least be able to defend ourselves." Hackett spoke up. "We do not even have point defense weapons!"

"I protested against it, just as you did, but since the mission is being done with a large amount of civilians, they are, ehh, apprehensive of dispensing weapons and munitions." General Williams sighed for a moment, and continued before Hackett could voice another thought. "I know, it is a load of crap. I never found out the real reason."

Hackett let his mind run wild for a few seconds. "Are they afraid we unintentionally start an interstellar conflict if we had weapons?"

"Possibly. It would make sense, but in my opinion still a flawed reasoning." General Williams said.

"And why do they send us? We are not exactly the most experienced crew out there, and we are on the least combat ready vessel. Why not send a hunter type vessel, modified for long range, or a destroyer or cruiser?" Moretti asked out loud. When Hackett looked at her, it looked more like a confession though. _I guess she has her doubts about all of this._

General Williams looked at them for a while, thinking over the answer. He poured the last of his ice coffee in his mouth, and swallowed loudly. "I wondered that myself too. I think you are both capable of running a ship in normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances." He sighed. "I have no idea. But I have learned one thing, being a General. Nothing is coincidental, except the surprises." His wristcom beeped. "Oh, shit. I have to cut this short."

They stood up, and shook hands. General Williams offered them a sincere wish. "Good luck to you and your crew, Commander. This mission may be a setup or arranged for certain reason, but you give your crew your best, and nothing less. If 'they' come here, we will be ready. And despite your ships state, it is also state of the art. If you make the right choices, and send the engineers to the right work, that ship can make the difference you need. And then, everything is and remains possible!"

Moretti seemed to perk up at the Generals words. "Thank you, sir."

"The strength of a unit, be it infantry or a ship, is the people. Not just the training, but the personalities make the difference. Find their strengths, find their weaknesses, and create a solid team. Remember that old wisdom, Commander: The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. It is your job to make that whole." General Williams said while shaking Commander Moretti's hand.

Then he directed his gaze towards Hackett, and shook his hand as well. "And it is your job to protect that whole, Lieutenant." he said, with an intense look in his eyes.

"Yes sir." Hackett said, visibly impressed. "I will, sir."

As they walked to the door, General Williams took Hackett separate and said in a hushed tone: "I have read your file, Lieutenant. I know what happened in Africa, and after. Make it a strength. If things go south, that experience will be a guide stone. A lesson to rally people by, not a weakness to avoid."

Hackett looked directly into the eyes of the General, as to seek and find the answer to life itself in the eyes of the man. "I don't know if I can, sir." Hackett replied in a hushed tone as well. "I have been running from it." he confessed.

"Maybe." General Williams said. "But you cannot be an effective leader, until you have lost, at least once."

Hackett let the silent message that came with those words linger in his mind for a few moments. And then he nodded resolutely. "Yes, sir. Thank you. I think I needed that."

The General smiled. "I guessed you did, judging from your file." The men released each other's hand. "Good luck out there, Mr. Hackett. Something tells me you are going to need it."

The door closed behind Moretti and Hackett, as they walked out. General Williams sat down behind his desk. "Godspeed."

* * *

"XO, report." Moretti said, as soon as she walked onto the bridge of the Icarus. Hackett walked towards his station, checking the current state of the ships weapons.

"We have a good workforce, and the crew-comfort will be up to par within the day. Together with the chief engineer, we have set up a plan that would allow for all the vital systems needed to perform this mission to be working before we leave." John Rutan replied, as his eyes remained firmly fixed at his console.

"That sounds like a solid plan." _I need to be alone._

"Don't get your hopes up, Commander. Most of the prototype systems, and the main computer among a few others will not be working for a while yet. But we will have full maneuvering on main engines and thrusters, we will have full shields, and shield enhancers available. We will also have a stable FTL drive, and all sensors and communication packages originally on this ship will also be fully working, or at least installed to a point where we can finish the mission." Rutan listed the state of the ship. Moretti was pleased with having a capable ship, now knowing why it was needed. "The ship will be fully manual until we can get the automated systems installed and working, though. This means a higher workload, of course. But we will be able to go without having to fear the ship exploding around us." Rutan finished with a slight smile on his face.

"That sounds pleasing, somewhat." Moretti responded. "Good work, John. When can we cast off?" _We need to get away from here._

"Not for another few days, but we will be fully ready when we do." Rutan replied. He was about to turn to another station, before he remembered something. "Oh, and there is some classified fancy communication system being installed on the ship. That will also be ready in a few days. General Williams has ordered a restricted access though, including after the install."

"Yes, that makes sense. He said we would be getting an.. ehh, 'fancy communication system' for this mission." Moretti answered with a smile. _Better keep it quiet for now._ "Anything else?"

"No, Commander. That is it." Rutan replied, and went back to his work.

Moretti walked to her quarters. Now that the workers were done, the room had transformed from a plastic and storage closet resembling mess into a room worthy for a VIP. The wall panels had been installed, the floor was covered linoleum, instead of the bare metal. The bed in one corner, and the couch with a coffee table were ready for use now. On the other side of the room was her work corner, with her desk and logs. A glass wall separated the living space from the closet area where her uniforms and armor would be stored. A personal toilet and shower were covered behind a sliding door.

However, Moretti had no interest in any of it. Without so much as a thought, she flopped on her couch and let out a huge sigh. The words of General Williams running though her mind.

_"I think you are both capable of running a ship in normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances."_

_Does he imply I cannot do this? No, that is not it, is it?_ She had dared not admit it, but Hackett was right after all. She came to know the young lieutenant well in the year she had served with him under captain Lange on the Hong Kong. Hackett had a knack for making connections where others only saw static. And although he stated the obvious from time to time, he never danced around the problems.

_"Nothing is coincidental, except the surprises."_

_What does he mean by that? _Hackett had already subtly mentioned it on several occasions. Something smelled off. A feeling that Moretti herself could not shake either.

_"We should in the very least be able to defend ourselves." _

Hackett's voice ran though her head. His works crisp and loud. _And there lies part of the problem. _

"_Are they afraid we unintentionally start an interstellar conflict if we had weapons?"_

Hackett's voice said in her mind. _This makes no sense. Why assign a military command to a vessel, manned by engineers, and then send them into possible alien contact without any means of effective defense or backup?_

_"I know, it is a load of crap. I never found out the real reason." _

General Williams voice, it was different this time, somehow_. They are hiding something. _Moretti was well known with the type of missions where you just had to keep your mouth shut, and follow the orders. But this was more personal to her. They did it to _her_ personally. And with a crew under _her_ command, there was the added responsibility. She needed to know. For their sake. Something was still off.

_"Nothing is coincidental, except the surprises."_

_They picked me for this mission. Why?_ She went through all her experience as an XO, under captain Lange. _Why me? And why Rutan?_

_"Why do they send us? We are not exactly the most experienced crew out there."_

She heard her own voice in her head, asking the question. She felt a drip of wetness land on her hand. She was sweating. Anxious. Something dreading was hanging over her head, and she did not have all the variables. _I could sure use Hacketts logic by now._

_"Remember that old wisdom, Commander: The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. It is your job to make that whole."_

She heard General Williams voice in her head, over and over again. _What is he saying? Why did he feel the need to mention it? What did he say? __Really__ say?_

_"If you make the right choices ... that ship can make the difference you need ... then, everything is and remains possible!"_

Her head remained silent for a full second. And then she heard him again.

_"...I think you are both capable..." "...but these are not normal circumstances..." "...Nothing is coincidental..." "...If you make the right choices..." "...Everything is and remains possible..." "...Can make the difference you need..._"

The voice kept calling out the fragments of conversation. Until it hit her like a firm slap in the face.

_"Nothing..."_

_"Is..."_

_"Coincidental..."_

Her eyes went wide in an instant. That same instant, all the voices of the memories of the conversation and all the mismatching facts and lingering doubts she had, went completely quiet. _They.. They.. expect.. _She could not quite voice even the thought of it. She gritted her teath. _They expect us to fail. _The silent voice in her head was slow, deliberate, and subtle. Her jaw dropped down, and her hands begun to shake. She was set up. Betrayed by the people that she served. General Williams figured it out too, and tried to warn her in a very subtle matter. _But why?_ _What is there to gain?_

_"We are currently in the dark about these aliens. We need intel first, so we understand what we are dealing with."_

The voice of General Webster almost echoed in her mind.

"Bait."

She said it in a hushed manner, but out loud, to an empty room. The gazing of General Webster's eyes. _He was... apprehensive. He was lying in my face! __Lying__ right in my face!_

"We are bait!" It was the only explanation. "We are _fucking_ bait!" The initial disappointment and feelings of betrayal now made place for rage, something she had never felt before. For the first time in her life, she desperately wanted to punch somebody, as long as it was one of those Admirals and Generals. She stood up and began walking back and forth in a seething cold rage. "How could they?!" She was near screaming, still to an empty room. "They sat there, spouting that _bullshit_ in my face, and I ate it up! Yes sir, no sir! ...FUCK!" She now shouted at the top of her lungs.

She sat down in an angry motion, feeling nearly defeated before she even set off. "We are bait. Nothing more." She said again, her tone now devoid of strength. "Just bait."

"They knew."

A loud sigh went again through the room.

_"Nothing is coincidental."_

"They _know_." The room remained silence, answering her question by not answering at all.

"They send us to see what 'they' are going to do, the QED is the data link, sending a continuous untraceable feedback. They know that we are going to meet 'them' there." She still could not believe what the unspoken message from General Williams implied.

"'_They_' have the probe."

"The reason of not sending everything back? It is bull-shit. A probe would not know what is potential alien life. It must have been detected and blocked." She kept saying it out loud, the hushed tone not carrying beyond her own words, as her emotions kept playing with her. _The crew. They can never know I am sending them to their deaths. They can never know they were betrayed._

She remained silent in her room, until her wristcom beeped. "Captian, we have a situation here, we need your input."

"I am on my way." She said in a weary manner.

* * *

Two days had passed with the crew working feverishly to get the ship ready. The plan, created by XO John Rutan worked like a charm. Maneuvering was fully available, so was shields, life support, power supply, sensors and a host of other systems. They even got the crew compartments up to par, and the crew used any free moment to relocate themselves to their respective bunks. Morale was increasing fast. They were anxious to see what this ship could do.

It was a shame that Moretti could not feel good about the accomplishments. Her mood had been thoroughly destroyed for a few days, to a point she begun to have a serpent attitude towards her crew members. At the end of a long workday, she retreated to her room, where she sat in silence, reflecting over the recent revelation. She was awakened from her deliberations by a knock on the door.

"Enter."

Hackett walked inside, and looked at his commander with a questioning look in the eyes, that also portrayed worry.

"Are..." He was hesitant to ask, especially since Moretti had been less than friendly lately. But Hackett seemed to gather his courage. "Are you ok, Commander?"

Moretti was deliberating how to respond to that. _The crew can never know they where betrayed._ The line kept running through her head. It was quickly becoming a heavy burden. "Yeah... I.." She hesitated again. Hackett was in possession of a sharp mind. Downright lying to him was usually pointless, he always figured it out. "I came by some information about the mission. It..." She sighed again. What to do? Should she say anything? She decided just to go with it. "It could change everything." She finished.

Hackett picked up on it without missing a heartbeat. "And you don't know what to do?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hackett came a few steps closer, a concerned look on his face.

"I just can't. It.. could affect morale." She said. _If only he knew the truth in that statement. _She looked Hackett in the face, silently telling him to drop the subject.

But Hackett wasn't born yesterday, and became quite good at reading her, in the year he served with her. "If that is the case.." He continued carefully. "Then... you may want to speak to somebody to.. help you cope with it." The look Hackett gave her made her feel lost. _He knows. Or he suspects._

"Like who?"

"Captain Lange." Hackett replied without hesitation. He paused for a moment, and then left. Moretti just watched him go. _He is right._ She stood up and walked towards her desk, and pressed a button that closed and locked the door behind Hackett, while setting up a secure communication.

_He is right. _She kept thinking while pressing the final number of buttons. _Captain Lange. A man who could win even when everybody else thought he had already lost. A man who never left anything to chance. He knew. He always knew. Or he made sure he found out._ A small smile appeared on her face.

"Staff Commander Chiari Moretti." A familiar voice said, as his face materialized in a hologram on her desk. For the first time since she 'got the message', she had a genuine smile on her face.

"Captain Ernst Lange." She replied with a smile.

"How is command treating you?" He asked.

"I thought I would welcome the challenge, but..." She diverted her view from his face back to her desk.

"What is wrong?"

"Is this line secure?" She asked, while checking her end.

"Yes, it is on this end." Captain Lange paused for a moment. "Tell me, what is bothering you?"

"The mission is a fail." She blurted out.

"You haven't started yet, according to your last letter. So how could you have failed already?" Captain Lange asked in a puzzled manner.

"No, that is not what I meant. The mission is _to_ fail." She looked up at her old captain with pleading eyes. "We are to be send out.. To fail." She said again.

She saw Captain Lange's eyes grow large for a moment. "Can you tell me?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. Classified to the highest level." She sighted. "The crew cannot know. I have nobody to talk to about this."

"How did you found out?"

"I.. Listened to what wasn't being said." She replied. One of the things she had Captain Lange once say. It put a small smile on the Captain's face. "A... Friend tried to warn me by not warning me at all."

"Aha." He paused for a few moments, and then became serious. "Welcome to the burden of command, Commander."

A single huff escaped Moretti.

"And now for your final lessen." Captain Lange said. Moretti perked up. Briefly, images crossed her mind of her old mentor, during one of his famous tactical lessons. A small chuckle escaped her. "What?" Captain Lange asked with an amused look on his face.

"I just remembered those tactical sessions you loved to give." She chuckled again.

"Well, they worked, didn't they?" His eyes gleamed with pride.

"Yeah." She had a genuine smile on her face again. Captain Lange always taught in a specific way. His cryptic messages gave her headaches for weeks when she just started serving under him. But right know she could use some of them.

"Ok. The position of command gives you great freedom, Chiari." The use of her first name made her smile again. He only used it when he was being genuinely supportive. "They might give you the missions, but _you_ decide how to fulfill them." He paused for a moment to let it sink in.

"If they expect you to fail, then don't. If they expect you to be predictable, then don't be. It is that simple." He continued.

"That simple, eh?" She chuckled, as she understand him the first time over. _He might be losing his edge._

"Yes. And that hard." Captain Lange said in a very serious tone. "Having that information might unnerve you, but you should not let it. You know it now, so.. use it to your advantage."

"How?"

"Something tells me they did not just told you to fail?" Captain Lange asked in an amused tone.

"No, they did not. But they expect it. They designed the mission parameters in such a way that it can and will fail." She described.

"Good. If they did not say it directly, then you take a good long look at how they worded their orders. Pick it apart sentence by sentence. Some orders can be bent. Others can be broken. And some are no orders at all."

She looked puzzled at that. "You mean..."

"_You_ are the captain of your ship. Your _primary_ duty is to the crew." He said firmly. "Complete your mission. Use the knowledge. But do it your way." He let it sink in for a moment, before adding in an amused tone: "I always did."

"I bet they did not like that?" She said, half asking, half confirming.

"What do you think?" He smiled back.

"I feel betrayed." She blurted out. Captain Lange remained silent for nearly a minute, as Moretti diverted her look towards her desk again.

"_Sometimes you have to sacrifice a Pawn to capture a Rook._" Captain Lange spoke carefully.

"What?!" Moretti's eyes found Captain Lange's in only a fraction of a second. She felt anger rise in her again.

"Something _my_ mentor said, and something I could never agree with." He said softly, but firmly.

"I am the Pawn then." Moretti concluded. Her anger subsiding slowly, being replaced by a sense of betrayal and defeat.

"Yes. I guess you are. But something tells me that the 'Rook', in this case, is so significant, they are willing to risk it." Captain Lange paused for a moment. "I just never thought they would, though." He sounded disappointed.

"Yeah."

"Well," Captain spoke up after a few moments. "You have exactly two options. You either resign and go home, or you rise to the challenge, and win to the, ehh, 'no-win-scenario'."

"_If they expect you to be predictable, then don't be._" She quoted her mentor. It got a big smile on Captain Lange's face.

"Exactly. And when you survive, feel free to rub it in their faces." He finished with a smile.

Moretti felt better after hearing her old Captain's teasing. "Thank you, Captain." She said in a humbled tone.

"Oh, don't give me that crap, Commander. I know you can do some amazing things, if you set your mind to it. Now go out there, and do your job!" He said in the familiar commanding tone she had heard so often.

"Sir, yes sir." She answered with a smile.

"Good luck, Commander." Captain Lange replied, and ended the communications.

"Thank you, Captain." She spoke to an empty room again. _I have to thank General Williams before we go._ She stood up and walked towards the door.

_"If they expect you to be predictable, then don't. It is that simple. And that hard."_

The echo of her old captains voice sounded in her head, and put a subtle smile on her face. As she walked out the door, the smile was still there. Not because she had confidence, but because she had a good mentor.

* * *

They had been underway for two full weeks, and the ship performed to specifications. The ride was smooth, and the power draw at FTL was significantly less than what they had expected. Now that the ship had its 'regular' crew, the chaos had substantially lessened, and Moretti had ordered the crew to focus on a few systems in particular, aiming that they would be online before they arrived. The primary being the heat dispersion systems.

Commander Moretti's mood had also been improving. The crew came together well, despite the different backgrounds, and she found herself integrating with them too. She did her rounds twice a day, and got to know a good number of them. Despite the lack of military command protocol for the civilian crew, they were surprisingly well adjusted to dealing with a command structure. Although they did rarely use 'ma'am' or 'sir' when speaking to their respective commanding officer, surprisingly orders from the military personnel was always acknowledged with their rank. Other differences in command stile was that engineers tended to open their mouths and discuss orders and ideas among each other before settling on a choice. The military staff had to learn to deal with subordinates that were expected to open their mouth when given an order, or blatantly asked follow-up questions; the most popular being 'Why?'.

Some of the military personnel tried to go against it and affirm the military style of command, but were met with laughter or the civilian engineers plainly ignored them. It took the first week for the senior command quell the clashing personality hot spots popping up all over the ship, and to come up with a working new style of command. The second week was a trail-out phase for this newer command style, with both sides getting used to each other. The command style was closer to that of the old science fiction series, where everybody could pitch in, but the commanding officer made the final choice. The rise in moral seemed to acclaim to the effectiveness of the mixing of backgrounds.

Hackett had the least problems integrating with his new crew, since he had quite some experience with Martin, and they both became the de-facto trouble shooters, explaining to both sides of a conflict on how to work together, and why both sides reacted the way they did. While Hackett quickly earned his place in the 'tower of command', Martin rose a good couple of points on the scale of respect because of that cooperation. And with Hackett's help, by talking to Rutan and Chief Engineer Ramos, Martin also got a lot more jobs to do around the ship, other than pipe-welding. Something that Martin could not shut up about.

As they all sat at the table in the mess hall, discussing the latest development on the ship, the small group of engineers and senior staff discussed the goal of the mission. Commander Moretti had briefed the entire crew about an hour earlier on what they were doing, and where they were going. When the word 'Aliens' sounded through the ship, every single human on board was silent. With the exception of the sound of the machinery in the ship, you could hear a pin drop on every deck, for nearly a solid minute. Although everybody had expected a first contact at some point, nobody expected it to be them, and now. As soon as the initial shock had worn off, the discussions began all over the ship. The most prominent of the questions pitched was 'could they be Protheans?'.

"But seriously, are _we_ going to make first contact?" Martin said out loud at the table, with a piece of chicken in his hand. "The ship is not combat worthy. Capable, yes, but not combat worthy. I mean, we are considering that they might be hostile, right?"

"I think it is wise to assume they are, and proceed from that standpoint, yes." XO John Rutan pitched in. "But we must be very careful that, while expecting hostility, that we ourselves are not hostile."

"And how do you suggest we make first contact? I mean, do they even have language like we do?" Chief Engineer Ramos said.

"He's got a point." Hammer replied. The pilot digging his head in a plate of bacon. "Oh, man.. Good." He still did not talk much, but it was now known that he preferred Hammer to Mr. Moreau, or even his first name Peter.

"Good question. But any species that has significant space presence needs to communicate long distances. So, there is a good reason to believe they have some sort of communications." Rutan surmised.

"Maybe." Martin continued. "But that still leaves the problem of actually understanding them. We do not have a linguist on board, nor do we have a way to decipher their transmissions without the main computer up. We are condemned to simple radio transmissions until we do." That got a few heads nodding. "I can theorize they can detect them, but they first have to monitor that type of communications."

"You are saying that they are so antiquated by their standards, that the aliens might just ignore them?" Chief Engineer Ramos tried to clarify.

"Well, it is all speculation of course, but yes. We might want several alternative means of communications ready, transmitting simultaneously. And then we will see which one they prefer."

"Makes sense." Hammer added with a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"Then there is at least only two immediate problems left, in case of first contact." Rutan surmised again. He paused for dramatic effect. "What to do if they are hostile, and if not, how do we communicate?"

"Well, we have that communications device that can relay messages over long distance, we can always ask for help when that happens." Martin suggested. "Ah, the unlimited limitations of modern day technology." He smiled.

Hackett had been sitting quietly, and was observing the discussion. He glanced at Moretti from time to time, seeing her cringe at the suggestion of Martin. Hackett knew the crew was excited for the possibility of alien contact. For most of them, the curiosity won out over their caution. Hackett, however, was more interested in the Commander. She had been distant for over two weeks now, and although her mood was improving slowly, obviously something was still bothering her.

Moretti must have caught Hackett glancing. "What do you think, Steve?"

"Yes, o mighty General, what do you think? Enlighten us with your wisdom!" Martin could not resist to quip. It got a laugh around the table.

"General?" Moretti asked surprised. "Do you have a rank I do not know about?" There was a mischievous grin on her face now.

"Yes, my Captain." Martin continued to quip. "During basic training, _Mr._ General here, took command of a group of cadets after the instructors got injured, and managed to maintain order for a significant length of time, getting each of them to work and train together. Under Mr. General's leadership, a group of undisciplined, green-as-grass cadets carried the wounded instructors back to base camp where there could receive medical attention."

This got the attention of the entire room. "He got a nickname from a friend of ours, David Anderson." Martin continued. "And it stuck." His grin had never left his face, as he switched to his announcer voice: "Ladies and Gentlemen." He said loudly in the mess hall. "May I present: First Lieutenant Steven 'The General' Hackett. You may applaud." He chuckled at his own performance.

"Impressive." Hammer said.

"Indeed. I guess that is why you were an officer at such a young age." Moretti said, with an impressed look on her face. "So, back to the topic, what do you think..." The mischievous look returning on her face. "... General?"

Hackett let out an embarrassed chuckle at the attention. "The first impression goes both ways. We make an impression on them, while they make an impression on us. Obvious really, but still important to keep in mind. But I think the impression is only the first step." He paused as he saw 5 puzzled faces stare at him. "It will reflect on our culture on how we reacted to them. In my opinion: Figuring out if they are immediately hostile should be the first thing we should do. I think it is the easiest too. But since we do have no linguist on board, first contact could be problematic, and might heighten the risk of wrong impressions." He paused for a moment. "Perhaps it would be smarter to not make contact for now."

Hackett saw Moretti's face change from surprised to pleased in an instant.

_She does not want to make contact? Why?_

"And what if they are hostile?" Rutan asked in a serious tone, before joining the quip with a chuckle of his own. ".._General_?"

"We die."

In the corner of is eye Hacket saw Commander Moretti actually startle at the blunt answer. It lasted for only a fraction of a second, but he caught it.

_Confirmed, then._


	10. Chapter 9 Contact

**I know you all desperately waited for some action. Here it is. Chapter 9. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Contact - Relay Task Force**

Opening: Mars transcript 3:

**BEGIN TRANSCRIPT**

_"Orbiting burn completed. We are now in a polar orbit."_

_"Well done, Kimberly."_

_"Thank you, Captain."_

_"Yes, well done, Kimberly. Really well done. All that hard work: pushing a few buttons, reading a few lines on a screen. Really well done."_

_"Shut-up Sam."_

_"Hey, you two. Grow up."_

_"You need to say it to Sam, Captain."_

_"I am saying it to you both. Grow up."_

_"Yes sir."_

_"What was that, sir?"_

_"Yes, Sam, you heard the man. Grow up, and get focused."_

_*sigh* "Yeah, I had about enough of juvenile behaviour. So stow it, or I will be forced to use my powers as Captain."_

_"Are you going to spit in our soup, sir?"_

_"Hahahahahaha."_

_*sigh* "At least do something useful while you are ogling each other."_

_"Hey!"_

_"Ehmm. I ehh, was n-not o-ogling her."_

_"No, Sam, I am sure you weren't. Just initiate the scan."_

_"Yes Captain. Initiating scan, Mars South Pole region. Oh, and our sensors confirm a stable orbit."_

_"Haven't they scanned this already?"_

_"Yes Sam, and we have the pleasure of doing it again."_

_"Then tell me, do we expect to find something new?"_

_"Of course not. But we need to earn our money, don't we?"_

_"What is the point of doing the exact same thing twice? Do we really expect different results?"_

_"Are you calling us idiots?"_

_"What?"_

_"You just quoted the standard definition of an idiot... Oh... Well, in your case, it is accurate, Sam."_

_"Hey!"_

_"Hahahah..."_

_"You see, even the Captain agrees, Sam!"_

_*Beep beep beep*_

_"Eh, Captain?"_

_"What is it."_

_"To answer Sam's ridiculous question: We are picking up some.. anomalous readings."_

_"Really? How? We do not have better sensors than any of the other ships. Sam should be right, we should be wasting our time here."_

_"Well.. Maybe because the shipyard had clustered them on this ship. Maybe that made a difference, Captain."_

_"What kind of readings are we talking about?"_

_"A deviation in Mars' magnetic field."_

_"Huh? How? Eh? What do you mean, a deviation?"_

_"Wow.. Sam is speechless. Just __that__ makes the trip worthwhile. Hahaha._

_"Focus, Kimberly."_

_"Sorry. Ehh, I guess somebody put some magnetic sensors on this ship... They did something similar to detect submarines... Eehh, Captain? I am detecting a... room or cave of sorts, with __something__ in it. If I read the readings right, it looks like something made from some sort of... high density material, probably a type of metal... Sorry Captain, that is about the best I can do."_

**END TRANSCRIPT**

"Do you think destiny waits for those who are ready, or for those who are eager?"

* * *

_"Dun-dun-dun-DUUUUUUN!"_

The first few notes of Beethoven's fifth symphony could be heard loud and clear on the bridge of the Tesla. It was the Captain who broke the tension, now that the repair and installation team had reproduced and installed 3 transmitter-receivers on the Shanxi-Theta gate. The effort took 12 days, but now they were finally ready to be the first through the Shanxi-Theta gate.

The crew of the Tesla fully expected to see similar type of damage on the other side of the gate, and had therefore already started to produce three more units. Despite the fact that the Tesla crew was hard at work, the crew of the rest of the taskforce was royally bored throughout the time the Tesla needed to repair the gate. Worse than that, was the lack of restraint by the military crew to make sure the Tesla crew got to hear it. Taunts were often thrown back and forth over the short-range radios, up to the point where the repair crew got so annoyed, they asked the captain of these vessels to give these persons something useful to do: 'Like cleaning toilets'. The captains, being bored themselves, but wanting to maintain an air of discipline, actually agreed with the suggestion. Unfortunately the work had been almost completed by then.

Glenn stood on the bridge, still in his space suit but with his helmet off, having just returned from welding the last part to the relay. He and his team had established that the gate normally had over 15 of these send-and-receive units available, but the team decided that they could combine the capability of these extra units into the three that they were building. Initial tests showed a complete success.

Of course, working with such old technology allowed the engineers a new glimpse in the sophistication that was realized in the gates. Glenn had, very loudly, noted that the gates had no resemblance to the technology of the Mars ruins. But as usual, nobody was interested in his comparison. At some point he just gave up.

Now, standing on the bridge, he awaited the moment that the whole convoy had been waiting on. "Captain, permission to send the activation protocols to the hyperspace gate. "

"Permission granted."

Glenn was a bit disappointed that it wasn't him who pushed the buttons to activate the relay. His expertise in xeno technology had proven invaluable during this endeavor, but he was not the senior engineer or scientist, so he could not claim any important task for himself. He could only watch.

"Sir, we have a conformation on the activation. I am reading an increased power output throughout the gate. The gate will have jump capability in under 5 minutes."

"Understood."

The one thing that the entire crew of the Tesla agreed on was that the gates where a magnificent piece of technology. Especially is ability to remain working without any maintenance at all, or the fact that it could power up in a few minutes, after being dormant for millennia.

The minutes crept by, as the standard blue hue on the gate began to form, and capacitors all along its hull began to glow white. From a distance, it looked like lights from the windows of a space station, but the hyperspace gate had no entrances or docking bays. The alliance had attempted to enter, but wasted a whole month trying to get through its armored outer shell, at which point they decided to give up. In total they had made a dent of less than 10 cm deep in the gate's armor. Using sonar detection, they determined that it would take significantly longer to get all the way through. After that result was made available, they quickly understood that no weapon in their possession would penetrate that hull. They even calculated the size of the gun needed to shoot clean through the gate's armor: It would have to be over 5 kilometers long, with a heavy projectile and lots of Eezo enhanced acceleration.

"We have a stable power up!" The senior scientist said, after which he quickly added: _"Dun. Dun. Dun. DUUUUUUN!";_ the second set of characteristic well known line of Beethoven's fifth. It earned him a round of chuckles all around.

"All hands, this is the Captain. We have stable gate power up. All stations, prepare for gate jump! I repeat, all stations, prepare for gate jump!"

Even though the Tesla was only a science ship, the people rushed to their stations, and typed quickly on their panel. Nobody needed any more direction to know what was expected of them. Even though it was no different than any of the other hyperspace gate transits, the first one was still perceived as potentially the most dangerous.

The same order was shouted on all the other ships of the group, and slowly the 6 ships made their way to the relay, with the Saigon leading the way. After sending their mass and approach vectors to the now repaired relay, the rings sped up, and hurtled the 6 ships through space.

* * *

The Shanxi-Theta gate was a back and forth only model, meaning there was a twin on the other end. The direct models allowed for greater distances, while the omni-directional models allowed for any and all gates within their shorter range. The alliance called them Primary and Secondary gates respectively.

The travel through the Shanxi-Theta Primary relay took only a few seconds. And as was expected before the trip was made, the Shanxi-Theta twin was also damaged and unresponsive. The gates had an automated function to assist any incoming starship in transit to slow down, but without the correct mass, the relay could not send ships away.

Most of the work was already done on the other side of the gate. And with the preparation work already done, the science team got right at work installing the transmitter-receiver units to the relay.

"Does anybody have a déjà-vu feeling here?" one of the workers said while welding one of the receiver units to the outer shell.

"Oh, shut up, will-ya. You always seem to lower the IQ of the entire team, every time you open your mouth!" The short wave radio quickly filled up with chuckles, following the comment.

"Oh, thank you. Glenn, you seem to be a nice guy here, can you tell him please who it was again that farted in his suit a few days after consuming lots of beer and nuts, and gassed himself to a point that he had to puke while still being in his suit?" Came the comeback from the man who was publically scorned over the short-wave radio.

Glenn instantly chuckled. He could remember the incident well. It made the entire team laugh for a solid 10 minutes, even though the situation actually got quite dangerous for a few moments, due to the man no longer being able to breathe. "Yes, Ned. Tell him, who was it again?" he pitched in.

The man called Ned reeled back from that comment, and let a loud grown fill the radio channels. "Yeah, live it up. Ha ha ha." His obvious insulted tone was met with honed laughter at the other ends of the conversation. Normally, only the Tesla was directly tied into the channel, allowing for (tech-) support for the engineers, and open discussions about the subject at hand. The other ships tended to listen nonetheless, but only very rarely had an added comment. With the quipping back and forth, and the general boredom, the crews of the military ships tended to pitch in from time to time. This time, they just made sure their laughing was added to the open channel as well.

Ned's face became darker and darker, as the entire group laughed at his expense. Glenn knew that he was quite embarrassed about the entire incident. He read Ned's face, as he assisted him with one of the units, he could see that his colleague had about reached his limit. He quickly changed the subject.

"I have been testing samples of the projectiles we recovered from the damage on the other side of the Shanxi-Theta gate, along with the few samples we have recovered from this one." Slowly the laughter died out. Mostly because Glenn was starting to have the reputation of being too serious for his own good, up to the point of ruining other peoples fun.

"Let me guess, you found something?" The welding worker replied with clear annoyed sarcasm in his voice.

"Let the man speak, Berney." Ned said. He then looked at Glenn, and giving him an unspoken 'thank you' with his look. Glenn just smiled and nodded.

"They're identical." Glenn said abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Ned replied.

"They're identical. In material composition, original projectile shape and weight, molecular buildup and age by radiological dating." Glenn replied.

"You got an age?" Berney now piped in.

"That is the interesting part. Both projectiles are roughly 50.000 years old, with a 2,5% error." Glenn waited a few moments for questions, but got none. "The projectile is about 500 kilos, and is consistent in shape to our rail-gun rounds."

"Wow. And you think the round is from a Prothean weapon?" Ned asked the obvious question, getting Berney to roll his eyes.

"And you told me I lowered everybody's IQ?" Berney said, seizing the opportunity to verbally jab Ned back.

"Yeah. Now you see the effect you have on people, Berney." Ned shot back within a heartbeat.

Glenn chuckled at the back and forth between the two. "Yeah. Restraining myself from jumping to conclusions, but yeah, it might very well be. Unfortunately, that is about all the clues I could find. We will never know for sure."

"What about the age of the gate?" Berney asked, now partially interested. He always had an interest in the hyperspace gates.

"I tried to get samples from the metals, but I only managed to broke the sampling tools." Glenn let out a disappointed sigh. "No clue."

"See, Berney? See? That is the effect you have on the people around you. Even or resident Prothean nut there..." Ned pointed at Glenn, who chuckled again. "... has no clue anymore!" Ned stared at Berney for a few seconds with a wide grin on his face.

"Please tell me you don't plan to breed?"

* * *

Finishing the work on the gate took only half the time it took on the first gate. The bridge crews of all the ships in the convoy were now conversing with each other to figure out a plan of attack to explore this new system and the surrounding area. The captain of the heavy frigate Saigon had the lead on the convoy, so he gave the final orders after the plan was set up.

"Tobruk, Tesla and Wolga, you stay with us, we will move as the main science and investigation group. Kursk and Midway: you two are our scouts. You will jump to points of interest for recon. We will then follow and investigate the most interesting discoveries. Look for garden worlds and resources of any kind."

_- "Understood Saigon."_

_- "Understood Saigon." _

_- "Understood." _

_- "Got it." _

_- "Tesla standing by."_

_- "Saigon, this is the Kursk, please come in." _The sound of the Kursk's captain filled the channels, just as the convoy was about to set off.

"Go ahead Kursk." Saigon Captain Benton replied over the airways.

_- "Captain, this is lieutenant Hester on the Kursk, sensors station, sir. We are getting some strange readings here, could you please confirm?"_ The voice sounded young and puzzled.

"Sampson?" Captain Benton said to one of his crew members. The view on one of the secondary screens on the bridge of the Kursk changed to a young woman named Sampson, also a lieutenant.

"Kursk, this is Lieutenant Sampson on the Saigon calling Lieutenant Hester. Can you give me a vector?"

_- "I am picking some strange fluctuation readings bearing 034 mark 046, closing fast."_ Hester replied, apprehension clear in his voice. Both Lieutenants now had the full attention of everybody on both the bridges.

"Lieutenant Hester?" It remained quiet for a few moments, as Sampson tried to find the reported readings. "Ehh, confirmed. I got something strange on the sensors as well. Looks like multiple contacts, bearing down on us. Time to intercept, less than two minutes."

_- "This is the Midway, I have it confirmed as well. Multiple contacts on an intercept course."_

_- "Could it be one of ours?"_ Hester asked out loud over the open channel.

"Unlikely. I did not hear of any scouting mission that far out, and especially not with multiple ships in convoy." Captain Benton replied. The tension now began to rise among all the ships. The face of the captain now showed a deep frown as he contemplated his options.

_- "Could this be alien life?"_ An unknown voice said over the open channel, speaking the words that now most likely everybody thought for themselves. Captain Benton decided to take the 'just-in-case' route right then and there.

"I am calling general quarters on all ships! Stand by for combat maneuvers! Tesla and Wolga: Make your way to the gate, prepare to jump through in case they are indeed hostile. The rest of us: cover the Tesla and the Wolga." The general quarters alarm sounded on all ships. Most of the crew were still under the impression that this was going to be a boring trip. It therefore took a lot longer for the ships to report being at general quarters status.

"Captain, I am now reading the contacts at 600.000 km out, 2 second light lag. They are still on an intercept course, and will be at our location in 45 seconds. I am reading 4 contacts. They appear to be of similar size as us." Lieutenant Sampson reported.

"All ships: Raise shields, and put your shield enhancers to good use. Prepare for possible hostile contact. Do not fire until fired upon. I repeat: do _not_ fire until fired upon!" Captain Benton was now nearly shouting his orders. He had a bad feeling about this, and knew that there was at least 100 ways that this could go terribly wrong. "Tesla, and Wolga. Prepare to get the hell out of here!"

_- "Tesla here, standing by, Captain."_

_- "Wolga here. Ready."_

"Midway, this is Captain Benton: set a course for the alien vessels. Do not power the weapons. Send out a general greeting on all frequencies!"

* * *

On the Midway, the bridge crew where anxious about the new arrivals. The possibility of alien contact was always on any briefing on flying into unknown territory, however nobody actually expected to see any aliens.

Captain Sofie Boon shouted several orders, getting everybody ready. She was listening to all the chatter about the unknown contacts, just as the other ships. Her own sensors station, manned by 2nd lieutenant Morrow, reported the same contacts as the Kursk. _Please be friendly, please be friendly..._ She would not admit it, but Sofie Boon was actually quite scared of the possibilities. Everybody had seen the movies of the hostile aliens baring down on Earth.

_- "Midway, this is Captain Benton: set a course for the alien vessels. Do not power the weapons. Send out a general greeting on all frequencies!"_

The Captain's orders filled her with dread. Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard. _Why me._ She quickly looked over the bridge, as her dread appeared to be reflected in all the faces she glanced at. _And why do we need to power down the weapons?_ She closed her eyes for a moment to have a fraction of private time in her own mind, as she forcefully silenced her own thoughts, and quenched her fears. To her it felt like minutes had passed, but it was only a few seconds. As she opened her eyes, she saw every bridge member look at her expectantly. She forced a small smile on her face, and gave her orders.

"Helm, set a course for the unknown contacts, ahead slow. Tactical, power down the weapons, but keep the power buffers ready. I want the cycle rate as low as possible if they are needed." The crew started to carry out her orders, as she focused at the next issue. "Communications: send out the prepared alien contact message, all channels, continuous loop, and keep an ear out for any type of reply."

"Captain, message is transmitting. Ma'am, there is a high change this will just be gibberish to them."

"We can't worry about that now. Focus on trying to identify a response." The reply came out harsher than it was meant, but the tension on the ship was high, and despite her best efforts, even Captain Boon was not immune to it.

"20 seconds out, Captain!" shouted the helm officer.

"Captain, I am detecting a power-up! Something is up!" Staff lieutenant Zimmerman nearly shouted over the bridge. "I-I t-think they are... going t-to fire!" His voice breaking. Normally he was calm and collected, but even he felt the tension.

Captain Boon reacted immediately: "Evasive maneuv.." She never got to finish, as a massive bang sounded though the ship, followed by several softer ones.

"We're hit!" Lieutenant Zimmerman shouted. "They have opened fire. Direct hit on our starboard wing. Shield strength is dropping rapidly under the strain!"

"Power the weapons! Fire back. Target the lead ship!" Captain Boon shouted.

"I got a.."

"FIRE!" Captain Boon shouted, as she interrupted Zimmerman while nearly lifting herself off her chair. The soft thuds signaling the main weaponry opening fire sounded through the ship. "Status of the enemy?"

"Minimal damage. They do not appear to use shield enhancers, but the rounds were completely absorbed." Zimmerman reported. "I got a weapons lock on the number two!"

"Fire at will!" Captain Boon ordered.

"They are flanking us! Both sides!" Lieutenant Morrow at sensors reported.

Several loud bangs were heard though the ship, as crewmen were thrown on the floors or violently shaken in their seats, and shouts could be heard over the internal communications systems.

"Multiple hits from both sides! We have a hull breach on the port side. We are losing atmosphere! Emergency force fields are failing! Weapons off-line! Shields failing!" The engineering station reported. "We need to get out of here, Captain! Fast! The ship was not designed to take on 4 frigates!"

* * *

_- "This is the Midway. We have made hostile contact with an unknown enemy. We have taken damage, and are retreating, taking evasive maneuvers."_

"All ships, engage the enemy! Keep ourselves between the enemy and the cargo vessels. Protect them! All ships, fire at will!"

Captain Benton cursed under his own breath. This was not supposed to happen. The alien ships moved effortlessly around the Midway at both sides, as they side-slipped around her to fire in her side simultaneously. Even from the bridge of the Saigon, it could be seen that they managed to breach the Midway's hull, as fire, debris and smoke poured out the hole at its port side.

_- "Oh my god."_ The captain of the Wolga said over the open channel, clearly in awe.

"Wolga and Tesla: Make your retreat. We will cover you!" Captain Benton said.

"I have a lock!" Tactical officer Holder reported.

"All ships, focus fire. Take the lead ship." Captain Benton said, desperately trying to even the odds. "FIRE!"

Several projectiles flew from the three remaining combat worthy frigates, as the alien vessels closed in on an head-on intercept course.

"Direct hits on the lead alien vessel. They have taken damage, and are veering to port. The other two vessels have fired on the Kursk and the Tobruk, but they have taken minimal damage. The number two is heading for the Wolga and the Kursk!"

"Helm, intercept the number 2, and line us up. Tactical, get a weapons lock, we have to stop that ship!" Captain Benton directed his crew. "And keep our shield enhancers at the incoming number 4 vessel!"

Right after the shield enhancer order was given, the Saigon began to slightly shake from several shield hits. "The number 4 vessel has opened fire on us, no damage. The shields are holding. The number one vessel appears to be evacuating."

"Good. Line us up with number 2!"

"Working on it, Captain." The helm responded with a strained voice. The Saigon might have been a heavy frigate, but that meant it was by no means nimble. The helm officer was doing his very best to line up with the more maneuverable alien vessel baring down on the Wolga.

"Number 2 vessel is o-opening fire!" Lieutenant Sampson said.

"Oh no.." Captain Benton muttered, as the crew watched the ship get hit several times, after which it exploded in dramatic fashion.

"The Wolga is ...d-destroyed.. with a-all hands, s-sir." Lieutenant Sampson reported, her voice being somewhere between shock and fear.

Captain Benton did not waste the moment. "Tesla, get through that gate, now! All ships, target number two. Stop it before it destroys the Tesla!"

The three frigates made a quick turn as they lined up with the number 2 alien vessel. - _"This is the Kursk, firing!"_

_- "This is the Tobruk. Torpedoes away!"_ As 4 torpedoes left the tubes of the Tobruk. - _"Helm, evasive maneuvers!"_ The Tobruk's commanding officer said over the open channel as they were hunted by the number 3 vessel.

"Captain, I got a lock. Firing!" tactical officer Holder reported. The number 2 vessel was now taking evasive maneuvers, making a direct shot a matter of mere seconds. "Direct hit! We took out the starboard engine."

Captain Benton allowed himself to smile for a moment. The aliens proved a powerful opponent, but they did not radically out class them. _The battle seems evenly matched._ _If we can keep up the splitting tactics, and focus fire on the alien ships, we could have them all crippled in a few minutes._

"Fire a second volley on the number 2 ship!" Benton ordered, right as the two remaining torpedoes from the Tobruk impacted the alien ship. The first impacted the top armor in the nose section of the alien frigate, doing no damage at all. The second torpedo hit right at where the Saigon had registered her main gun impacts, and the explosion ripped through the soft inside of the ship, peeling its top armor open and blasting one of its wings off. "Never mind." A smile clearly hearable in his voice.

"Captain, we have a new contact dropping in." Lieutenant Sampson reported loudly. "I am registering three more frigate size vessels, and..." her voice wavered for a moment, something the captain picked up right away.

"What is it?"

"It's... a cruiser size vessel, sir." Sampson answered while she looked directly at her captain. "They are about a minute away."

_Ah shit, we cannot take on a cruiser! We have to get the hell out of here!_ "All ships, prepare to retreat!" Captain Benton shouted to all ships.

_- "We can't! If they follow us, they will have a free run to Shanxi!"_ The captain of the Tobruk shouted over the radio.

* * *

The tension on the Tesla was think. The vessel was manned with civilians, who were not trained for this kind of situation. A wave of shock and panic rippled through the ship, as the Wolga exploded with all hands. Due to the Tesla being a converted old cargo vessel, rapid maneuvering was not one of its capabilities. As it made its way to the Shanxi-Theta gate to escape the battle, every civilian on the ship was preparing for an immediate departure using the escape pods.

In the main science labs one of the technicians had rigged the scientific sensors and radio in such a way that everybody got an almost cinematic view of the battles. Cheers were heard when an alien ship was hit, and gasps when an alien ship managed to land a hit.

Despite the more advanced look of the alien vessels and the apparent greater hull strength, the Alliance vessels managed to hold their own. The shield enhancers doing all they can to absorb the direct fire of a single opponent, exactly as it was designed to do. Even the heavily damaged Midway, nearly gutted by a direct hit in its side, managed to fend off the alien vessels with its remaining shield enhancers.

The space directly surrounding the vessels was alight with close in weapon systems fire, as they frantically tried to intercept the opponents' torpedoes. So far, only the Tobruk managed to land a direct torpedo hit on an alien vessel, with devastating effectiveness. The entire science team cheered loudly at the sight of the exploding vessel. Captain Benton did an exemplary job keeping the aliens from targeting the Tesla.

"1 minute 45 seconds 'till gate transition." The Tesla's Captain said over the internal communication systems.

Glenn looked around him as everybody, including him, had used the initial panic to gather their most prized possessions along with the basics that they could carry in one backpack. Glenn himself also had a backpack on his back, and clutched on to the small wooden box, with the sliver of the Prothean artifact inside it.

Due to the chaos of the battle in the central labs, Glenn did not notice the sliver activating several times in the past minutes, shining an eerie green glow at the inside of the closed box. The hum it produced was muffled by the sounds of the ship moving at maximum acceleration, and desperately dodging any incoming projectiles it could detect, next to all the frantic voices around him, commenting live on the battle at hand.

The room got quiet when one of the technician updated the status verbally. "4 more vessels have jumped in. One of them looks like a cruiser!"

"Oh shit." Glenn muttered, as he could read the shock and fear off everybody's faces. The battle had turned for the worst in less than 5 seconds. Remembering his discussions with Hackett, he added: "The three remaining frigates cannot handle a cruiser, let alone its escort, together with the current alien frigates still fighting." Everybody looked at him with a mix of fear and anger. _I guess I should have kept my mouth shut._

It seemed Captain Benton made the same tactical assessment. -_"All ships, prepare to retreat!"_

_- "We can't! If they follow us, they will have a free run to Shanxi!" _The voice of the Tobruk's captain sounded almost in panic to the civilians on the Tesla; not realizing it was the stress of the battle.

Glenn thought about the option for a short while. The statement by the Tobruk's captain was a trigger for his brain, frantically seeking a method to block the gates. _We could shoot off the transmitter-receivers we installed. But then we are stuck here. And it would not take long for them to find out what is going on. Also, the next group going through has to repair the gate first before they can go back, leaving them vulnerable. _

Inside the box, the sliver lit up and hummed.

_Perhaps we can temporary block the gate using the engine core. It would be only temporary, but it would allow us the time to build up a defense._ Glenn weighed his options. _But what about a possible alien invasion. They could be just territorial, or they might want to invade. Dammit. This is not my call to make._ The time ticked by slowly as Glenn went though the options in his head again. _If I pulsate the core at the same frequency as the gate, and send an inverse burst out through the warp bubble while dramatically expending it. It should choke the gate for a few days and allow us to get out before it does._

Before he had an idea he was doing something, Glenn heard himself speak over the radio. "This is David Glenn, onboard the Tesla. There might be a way to temporarily choke the gate, leaving us several days to come up with a defense. However, we would only have a few seconds to get through before we got stuck here ourselves!" After Glenn was finished, he looked up from the station he was sitting at, overlooking the projectors that portrayed the battle. He was met with a large amount of baffled looks from both the scientists and technicians.

It took Captain Benton a second to react. - _"How do you know all this?"_

Glenn stopped cold that moment. His face became as pale as a sheet. _Huh? How do I know all this? I have never read about any of this. Anywhere. Have I?!_ His face portrayed a moment of utter puzzlement, before he decided to go with his gut. _What does it matter. It is the knowledge we need now._ "I, ehh, read about it, Captain. The Mars ruins." Glenn answered quickly and vaguely.

_- "Do it."_ Captain Benton said. _- "All ships, prepare to get the hell out of here now."_

_"This is the Midway. We are almost at the gate. We are in no condition to fight. Permission to leave the battle." _Captain Boon's voice sounded clearly distressed as she and her crew nursed the wounded ship back to Shanxi.

_- "Permission granted. Good luck, Midway. And if we don't make it, warn Shanxi!"_

_- "Will do, Captain Benton. Good luck and give them hell. Midway out."_

"All right everybody, if we do this, we need to do this fast. We need about a minute to reset the core parameters." Glenn said to a room of still stunned scientist and technicians. "Glenn to the Captain: We need to stay close to the gate, and jump along with the other vessels or jump last in order to do this!"

_- "This is not a combat vessel, mister Glenn!"_ The Captain responded immediately. Before shouting loudly: _- "INCOMMIIIING!"_

A loud bang reverberated through the Tesla, as sparks, surges and finally a power outage crippled the ship. Only a second later, the emergency lights went on, as the room erupted in a blind panic.

"EVERYBODY STAY CALM! PLEASE STAY CALM!" Somebody shouted over the panicking civilians.

_- "A-all h-hands."_ The Captain's voice sounded pained and strained, unlike anything Glenn had ever heard. - _"A-ab-ban-don s-ship. A-abandon shi..."_ The Captains voice stopped abruptly, as the crew heard him gurgle and then blow out his last breath; followed by the sound of the bridge decompressing.

The room remained silent for a few seconds, stunned after what they just heard. "We can't!" Glenn uttered, earning him a sea of confused faces. "We have to set off the pulse."

"Haven't you heard the Captain!? He gave the order to abandon!" The lead scientist shouted off to his right.

"If we don't give the Alliance a change to set up a defense, these aliens will have a free fire fest at Shanxi! Or worse: Earth." Glenn countered.

"There is nothing we can do about it now. The ship is about to explode!" The lead scientist said, as he turned around and ran for the escape pods at the back of the ship.

"Follow m.." A second loud bang reverberated through the ship, as an emergency door slammed shut, only barely stopping a huge fireball that had erupted right next to the lead scientist, from entering the science labs.

"Engines are out!" One of the technicians said. "We are crippled. Next shot will kill us."

Glenn looked around him as now everybody faced him, waiting for a clue of what to do next. _We need to set off this pulse, while we still can._ "I need a few volunteers. The rest, get to the escape pods."

"Glenn!" Ned said. "We are coming with you." As he and Berney ran up towards him, along with a few others.

"Ok, I just need a few seconds." Glenn said, as he walked towards one of the very few military people on board. "Ophelia, I need you to do something."

"What is it?" A soft female voice spoke back, while she avoided to look the man in the eyes. Her body radiating fear.

"Take this box. I need you to take it with you, in case we do not make it off this ship. Find either Lieutenant Steven Hackett, Lieutenant David Anderson or Martin de Krijger. Give this to them, and only them, ok? Can you do that for me, please?

She turned her face so she could look directly into Glenn's eyes, seeing only a pleading look. "I will." She said, as she took the box from him.

"Go." Glenn said. "You need to go, now."

They all set out for the various locations of the escape pods in the dimly lit corridors of the Tesla. One of the technicians turned around in the doorway to face the group of volunteers, still standing around Glenn. "Good luck." And then he was gone.

Glenn looked at the 6 people who volunteered to help him, some of them with a barely contained state of shock radiating from their eyes. "We need to get to the engine room."

* * *

The battle gone well, until the cruiser and its escorts dropped in. The three Alliance frigates were still fighting, but it was a losing battle. Of the original 4 alien vessels, only two remained, but they managed to elude the fire, as they switched their tactics to just keeping the Alliance vessels busy until the cruiser got within firing range.

"Captain, the Tesla has been hit twice. She is crippled, sir. I am detecting escape pods being launched." Lieutenant Sampson reported.

"Shit.. shit shit SHIT!" Captain Benton said out loud. _Now that we no longer have to protect the Tesla, we could really move around._ Promptly forgetting about the escape pods. Unfortunately it proved too little too late.

_- "Saigon, Kursk. The alien cruiser has a beat on us, taking evas..."_ A loud bang was heard over the open channel, followed by lots of static.

"Sir, the Kursk took a direct hit from the cruiser. They appear to be fatally damaged sir." Tactical officer Holder reported.

The captain reassessed his situation. "Tobruk, we need to protect those escape pods, and hold off these aliens as long as we can."

_- "Yes sir."_ It sounded over the open channel, the voice a mix between determination and disappointment.

"Captain, the Kursk has changed course!" Sampson reported.

"On secondary screen. Helm, line us up with number 4. Tactical, keep at least 2 shield enhancers at the cruiser." Captain Benton ordered.

"She is making a run for the cruiser, sir!" Sampson said in a surprised voice. "I am also detecting an overload building on the Kursk."

"Hail them!" Benton shouted.

"I have been trying, they are not responding!" Sampson said.

"I have a lock on the number 4 ship, firing!" Tactical officer Holder said in between, and the sound of the guns firing reverberated through the ship.

"Get us in close, fire a volley of torpedoes at their engines, from the back." Captain Benton decided. "Let's see how they like that up close. Tobruk, cover us as much you can!"

_- "We got your back, Saigon!"_

* * *

Glenn and his small group of volunteers finally made it to the engine room. Inside the crippled and mangled hull of the Tesla, they found multiple bodies, but otherwise the ship was abandoned. Several sections were completely decompressed, and they had to resort to the crawl spaces to get passed the decompressed rear cargo bay to arrive at the engine room, which was still mostly intact. This was one of the few parts of the ship that still had power.

"Ned, I need you to coax as much as you can out of any remaining power source we still have. Don't bother about trying to contain everything within the heat limits, just don't melt it." Glenn said.

Ned gave him a weird look for a fraction of a second, before realizing that the ship was already lost. A curt nod later, and he ran towards the power management.

"I need the rest of you to find out which sensors we have, what data we can access, and how we can determine what the exact field frequency and pulse rate of the gate is!" Glenn said to the group. Just after they took off to their respective stations, he stopped Berney as he walked passed him.

"Berney, I need you to help me reconfigure the main core. We need to alter the pulse rate and make an inverse field flow to exactly counter the one on the gate."

Berney nodded as well. "How exactly is this going to work?" He said, while he started to reconfigure the pulse rate of the engine core.

"Something to do with how the gate dispenses its power. The pulse will force the power and regulation systems to compensate for the disturbance, but it somehow leads to a massive static power buildup within the gate, that takes several days to clear out." Glenn said in one breath, surprised by his knowledge. _How the hell do I know this?_

"That makes no sense, but I guess we don't have the time to discuss it." Berney said, and after a few moments of typing later. "Ok, I can now alter the pulse rate at will."

"Good work. I have almost reversed the flow through the field." Glenn added.

"Ok, we have limited sensors. This is what we can get." One of the other volunteers said; a man named Jasso. "What is the range of this pulse?"

"Are we still moving towards the gate?" Glenn asked slightly worried his plan would fail.

"Yes, the explosions and weapons fire slowed us down considerably, and we are not exactly moving pretty towards it, but yeah, we are moving close to it." Jasso answered.

"I think the maximum range is about 100 km, tops." Glenn said, as he finished his task. "Will we get that close?"

"Yes, but we will only be in range for 25 seconds; which starts in about 40 seconds." Surprisingly, the fear that was in everybody's voices earlier had disappeared. The one purpose had united them all and added a sense of determination.

"Can we get a radio message out? I need to contact the Saigon." Glenn said, right as Ned came running back.

"I got us all the power that is still in this ship, but in 5 minutes, we cook." Ned said. "Plenty of time to do this, and get out."

Behind Ned, the engine core began to pulse at the exact same rate as the gate, while Glenn inputted the last sensor data about the gate field frequency.

"I got the radio working, short range only." Jasso said.

"Saigon, come in. This is the Tesla. Please respond, it is urgent." Glenn tried. After a few seconds of silence, he tried again.

_- "This is the Saigon, go ahead Tesla."_

"Captain Benton, this is David Glenn. We can still set off the pulse, but we can no longer wait for the ships sir. We will be permanently out of range in about 45 seconds." Everybody on the Tesla was completely silent, as they listened to the static coming out of the radio, as Captain Benton undoubtedly was weighing his options.

_- "Do it." _

The two words finalized a disastrous day. The combat ships that had so valiantly defended them, would be stranded here, forced to fatally fight an alien patrol that outnumbered them. It was just a matter of time before it was all over.

"Sorry, Captain." Glenn said sincerely.

_- "Don't be. You are doing the right thing. It has been an honor, David Glenn."_ There was something final in the words. He had resigned himself to his fate. On the Tesla, the message finally sunk in too.

"Likewise, Captain. Give them hell."

"We are not getting out of this one alive, are we?" Berney asked.

"We can still use the escape pods." Glenn said, right before an alarm sounded, about an overload building.

"Shit, I have to cap this overload, or this ship will explode before we can send the pulse!" Ned said, as he ran towards the fusion core.

"Let's do this. Prepare to set the pulse."

Ned shouted from the back: "Ok, you have about 25 seconds bef.." As an high pitched sound rapidly rose in volume and resulted into an explosion that went off to his left and ripped him in two before Glenn's eyes. The ship shuddered under the added strain of secondary explosions following shortly after.

"Oh God!" Glenn froze in his place, looking at the utter glazed over eyes in Ned's shredded face, as his upper torso landed close to Glenn's work station. "Ned..." He uttered.

"Glenn!" He heard to his right. "Glenn, you have to initiate the pulse!"

"GLENN!" Glenn came out of his shocked state, to see Berney stand next to him, shaking him furiously. "You need to focus a few moments longer!"

"Bu...Y-yeah..R-right." Glenn said, as he looked to the panel with the data on it. The graph showing the power needs, next to the graph for the power available showing more and more spikes. "Guys..." He said, before he was interrupted by Jasso.

"We are not going to make it, are we."

"No... If I push this button, the fusion core won't restore anymore after the pulse is send." Glenn closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, gathering his thoughts. "The ship will explode shortly after."

"Do it." Barney said with conviction. Everybody else nodded.

"I am sorry, guys. It was a true honor. A privilege."

"Likewise."

There was nothing left to say. Glenn pushed the button.

* * *

Captain Benton watched on his secondary screen, as it had the remains of the spinning and tumbling Tesla in view. In an instant, the ship lit up with a blue field around it, similar to the hyperspace gate, and then send out an expanding blue pulse. Only moments after, the Tesla exploded with the force of a tactical nuke.

The crew of the Saigon watched silently as the Tesla exploded violently, while the blue expanding pulse hit the Shanxi-Theta gate, and made it light up in a flare twice, before it dimmed completely. The rings coming to a halt shortly after.

"They did it." Captain Benton said in a subdued fashion.

"Sir, the Kursk!" Lieutenant Sampson reported.

"On screen!"

The alien ships seemed to be as stunned by the blue pulse as the two remaining Alliance vessels. The third, although mostly crippled, and trailing fire and debris, with an overload building, used the confusion to point his ship at the alien cruiser. The ship got alight with a similar blue hue, only much dimmer than the one observed on the Tesla.

"They are engaging their FTL drive!" Holder shouted on the bridge. "They are really going to do it!"

The radio crackled to life, with the sound of a strained voice, transmitting on all frequencies.

_- "Ramming speeeeed!"_ The Kursk used its FTL drive to hyper accelerate them. The crew on the Saigon saw them cutting it off at the last moment, making the Kursk slam into the alien cruiser at a fraction of the speed of light.

* * *

Inside her escape pod, which she shared with several others, 1st Lieutenant Ophelia Muri saw the Kursk, as they made their final run.

_- "Ramming speeeeed!"_

The resulting explosion after impact took out the cruiser and two flanking frigates, probably saving the escape pods from certain destruction or capture.

On her lap was the box that Glenn gave her. It was softly humming in the pod, while the sliver still shined bright green inside it, completely unseen by the escape pod's occupants. It had done that several times in the past minutes, but Ophelia decided not to open it, to honor the privacy of the man that gave his life a few minutes ago.

Inside the box, the Prothean sliver pulsed once more, and then became dormant.

* * *

_FTL_: Faster than light.

_Shield enhancers_: Early alliance ships have weak shields. The power draw is still too high to maintain a heavy field for the entire ship. They use a stop-gap measure, by using shield transmitters mounted on a turret, that can locally boost the shield. Multiple can be layered for more powerful local shields. See chapter 4

**Please review. Tell me whether you like it or not, or anything else on your mind. It will help.**


	11. Chapter 10 Seeing Is Believing

**Sorry for the large delay. New job, tight schedule, and hard chapter to write all added to it. However, this story is not dead. So let us continue.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Seeing is believing – Icarus**

_Aahh, silence._

The random thought flowed through Hackett as he looked out of the window in his room. Next to him a half finished letter to his father. Hackett spend weeks on deciding whether or not he would write the man, now that he managed to locate him, but conflicting thoughts kept running through his head. _Does he want to know about me? Why has he never tried to contact me? Why should I try to contact him, he obviously never did. But what if he did try? Did mom block his messages?_

The seeming complexity of the situation forced Hackett to stop writing. He subverted his view from his writing and stared out of the window in complete silence. The only noise being the ship as it hurtled itself through space at its maximum sustainable speed.

A chime from the door broke Hackett's deliberations. _Who could that be?_ "Who is it?", speaking his thought out loud.

"Martin."

The sound of his friend announcing himself put a slight smile on his face. He could use some of his humor right about now. "Come in!"

The door opened moments later, and a young man with a grin came walking in. As he walked in, he looked around at the tactical officer's chambers. "This room is so much nicer than mine. Smells better too." Martin quipped, while walking past Hackett's desk and spotting the half finished letter. He read the first few lines, and stopped. "So you are really writing him, eh? Are you sure you want to be this stiff?"

"Do you have a better idea on what to write to a man you have not seen your entire life?" Hackett's question was actually genuine, but came out with a slight sniding undertone. It took Hackett a few seconds to recognise it. "Sorry, I did not mean to take it out on you. I am just frustrated. Now that I finally have committed to writing him, I have no idea what or how."

Martin thought for a few seconds. "Keep it short."

"But.. why?" Hackett had a puzzled look on his face.

"There is no point in telling your entire life story in the first letter. If he is not interested in knowing, he will not read it. If he is interested, then he has no real incentive to try to write you back, he already has the story."

Hackett chuckled. "You may have a point there. The mission is to get him to write me back."

"Exactly. So, keep the first message brief and short. You only want him to know who you are, how you find him, and what you want to achieve with the attempt at contact. Everything else just complicates things."

Hackett thought long and hard about this, and decided that Martin was right. "I guess I need to rewrite my letter then."

"You might want to start from scratch, because that letter looks like it was written by a 5 year old!", Martin quipped. He got a chuckle out of Hackett.

"Thanks."

* * *

With the Icarus underway for more than two weeks, the crew was getting well adjusted to the established new routine. Most of the day consisted of constructing the myriad of half-finished systems. And with the type of mission they were conducting, it was 'all hands on deck'. Commander Moretti decided that with such a critical mission, she would help the rest of the crew with the build work. The navy personnel found it a strange occurrence, but XO Rutan, who did not have a navy background, had already decided to help the crew earlier. As one of the senior engineers in Phoenix works, he was more familiar with working amongst the crew, and Moretti decided that the situation warranted a deviation from standard protocol.

At the end of another sweaty long workday, Moretti was sitting behind her desk, doing the needed paperwork and status updates on the various ship systems in her log. Morale on the Icarus was high, and seeing the Commander work amongst the 'little people' helped a lot with earning the respect of the civilian crew. Despite Morreti's attempt to distract herself, her head was still not in 'the game'. Hackett's blunt answer still ran through her mind constantly. _Hackett knows. I know he does. Maybe I should just tell him._ With the decision point looming ever closer, her mind decided to play devil's advocate._ But what if he doesn't? And does Rutan not have more right to know than Hackett?_

Her mind shifted to the conversation with her mentor, Captain Lange. Moretti was determined to not let the crew suffer for the act of their superiors. _How can I use the knowledge to my advantage? If we can get the heat recapture and dissipation systems working, we could do a stealth run, and observe them. Despite the betrayal, Admiral__Santos did have one point: we know nothing. If we get a free run to the probe, we just grab it and run. But if they have it, we should shadow them for a while._

She kept running possible scenarios through her mind, trying to get an angle with the systems that she had available. But without offensive capabilities, every scenario she ran ended in disaster. _An enemy would have the advantage in every avenue. Perhaps I should ask Hackett to help here. I can ask for 'what ifs' without revealing too much._ At that moment Moretti's wristcom beeped.

"Commander, we have an incoming message on the ships QED. It is encrypted level gamma. I don't have that clearance, so I guess your eyes only." XO Rutan said from the bridge.

"I am on my way. Thank you." Moretti responded surprised. _ I don't think this is the call where they are going to apologise for being an ass. So what do they want? We are not even at our destination yet, we reported that already._

She walked to the repurposed VIP quarters that held the QED. The room still had the smell of new electronics. Moretti took a few moments to let herself adjust to the new sound level, as she was now bathing in the sound of cooling fans and air conditioning units trying desperately to keep the new equipment cool. She walked to the panel and pushed the activation button. "Classified data stream detected. Access code required."

"Commanding officer of the Icarus: Chiari Moretti, access code: Foxtrot Mike Lima zero seven six six, Oscar Mike Foxtrot Golf."

"Access granted." The QED answered back, as the holo-pad started to render the image of General Williams, with a small amount of fizzing noises accompanying the process.

"Hello Commander." General Williams greeted with a small smile on his face. _I guess he got my 'thank you'-letter._

"General." Moretti responded. "It is good to see you again."

"Likewise." And then the smile on Williams face disappeared as he went back to business mode. "Commander, I call you via the QED because something has come up."

Moretti saw the change in demeanour and expected the worst. "What is the problem, General?" She said in her business tone.

"Commander, less than two days ago, one of the ships that we send through the Shanxi Theta gate, returned prematurely. It had received extensive damage from an unknown enemy." Williams paused a moment for dramatic effect. "Of alien origin."

Moretti perked up. "We made first contact?" Although she would not say it to the General, but the felt like a weight had just been lifted of her shoulders. The fraction of a second filled with light euphoria crashed down as the full realisation of what General Williams said was processed by her mind. "Wait. You said 'extensive damage'. Does that mean..."

"Yes, Commander, the first contact was less _contact_, more _shooting first, ask no questions later_." General Williams said in mock fashion. "The rest of the ships are presumed lost with all hands. We are scrambling the local defence fleet at Shanxi, and the rest of the fleet is getting ready for contact as well, but we expect that help will not arrive in time."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"The Midway reported that the plan was to block the gate using some sort of process to overload the internal systems, causing a shut-down of the gate for a small amount of time; several days at most. High command is currently focussed at protecting the critical parts of the Alliance, like the biggest colonies and Arcturus."

"So.." Moretti began to formulate the situation, but was interrupted by General Williams.

"Yes, we are assuming an all out aggressive alien race, and are preparing the best we can for planetary hostile contact." General Williams concluded calmly, like it was a weather report.

"How many made it back?" Moretti asked subdued. The implications were running through her mind, the mixed feelings of euphoria and dread following suit. Her mission was useless now, she would most likely have to turn around and come back; but come back to a fighting Alliance. The ship would still be in no position or state to fight alien invaders.

"Only the Midway. She was nearly gutted by the enemy ships."

"What happened?" Moretti asked, as Williams was giving her a recollection of the battle. With each sentence, Moretti got more troubled. Her eyes got larger and larger with each turn in the battle. _What was that American saying? Oh, yes: Out of the frying pan, into the fire._

General Williams concluded with a tactical overview. "Their weapons appear to be more effective against shields. They fire small projectiles very, very fast. Our weapons appear to be more effective at demolition of the vessel once the shields are down."

"How effective are the shield enhancers, sir?" Moretti decided to focus at figuring out her chances rather than hear about something that she did not have and could not do anything about.

"It seems that the shield enhancers need the maximum of enhancers at one location to fully stop the enemies projectiles. Splitting them between multiple targets, at current, will result in a shield breach." Williams paused for a few seconds to observe Moretti grasping the large flow of new information, and trying to formulate more questions. However, before Moretti could ask one, Williams continued. "We learned that lesson from the Midway, as she got her shield pierced by these weapons, when she had to defend from two sides. When the Midway left, the other three ships were still fighting, but a cruiser size vessel had just jumped in with other reinforcements."

Moretti took a moment to let the scenario be processed. She felt the anger of betrayal flair up again. _This is what they wanted us to tackle? We would have __no__ chance against this type of weaponry! _ Her facial expression turned to a scowl when she thought about the end result of such a scenario. _This is what would have happened to us, had we made an attempt at first contact!_ She wanted to shout at General Williams, but knew deep down that it would not help. The man could not do anything about it either, and actually tried to help her. She sighed loudly as she forcefully pushed the anger and anguish out of the way. _I have to keep focussed._ She contorted her face into a pained-angry expression for a second, while pushing the last remnant of her anger away. She looked into Williams' eyes. "What do we know of the alien ships?"

General Williams continued without a second thought. "They are more advanced than ours, but the difference seems measurable in decades, not centuries. Our weapons have a slower muzzle velocity, and pack less punch; however do pack a bigger bang. They have omnidirectional shields, while we use shield enhancers. Their ships are heavily armoured, but less manoeuvrable than our vessels of equal size. Overall, it seems to about even-out in a one-on-one fight." Williams concluded.

Moretti listened to the approximate knowledge obtained by the crew of the Midway. "So... We can keep up with them." It was not really a question, more of a factual sum-up.

General Wiliams confirmed her spoken thoughts. "Yes, it appears so."

"Good to know. That means we have a chance." Moretti concluded, as she studied the face of General Williams while he nodded in agreement. He seemed calm, but the twitching of his eyebrows betrayed his own anxiety. "So... I guess we are at war now?"

"Yeah, it seems that way. The moment that gate opens, we expect alien forces to pour through. We are scrambling anything we can get our hands on."

"What..." Moretti swallowed hard. "...are our chances?"

"That depends on what is waiting on the other side of the gate. But that could be a very large fight."

"What does that mean for us? Are we still to continue on the mission?" A bit of hope creped in Moretti's voice, as she expected a negative answer, as that would mean an end to the burden of leading a betrayed crew.

"No. I am relaying orders from Alliance high command. You are to divert to the system of the Shanxi-Theta gate, and observe what is going on there, and report back."

Moretti's heart skipped a beat at the order. Eyes wide, and in full fight or flight mode, she desperately tried to divert their attention from the Icarus and her crew: "General, we are still on course for J25-85, we might be moving in a complete other direction to the exit of the gate."

"Navigational records confirmed the Shanxi-Theta gate ends in the system designated J25-75. It is about a week worth of travel from J25-85."

Moretti looked around the room, as she sought some mental solitude. The situation just did not seem to improve. Instead of leading the crew into a predetermined trap, she now had to fly them in a potential, and highly likely, combat scenario. _Shit, combat!_ "Sir, these aliens are hostile. We are not equipped for a fight. Most of the weapons are not working, and even if they were, we have no ammunitions. And as it seems to be the case now, the heat dissipation systems are also not going to be online. Going in there, expecting combat, with this ship? That is pure suicide!"

Williams' face showed nothing but understanding. "Commander, I know. But you and your ship are literally all we have. We have received several death-signals from other deep-space probes. The aliens have destroyed them all. We have no other means to see what is waiting for us there. We _need_ the intel, Commander."

Moretti let out a heavy sigh, her fate became more and more unavoidable. "Yes sir.", she said subdued. As the silence grew, she let her hands dig in the rail around the panel. "Shit!" She said out loud, and let out another sigh as she calmed herself. "How do we know they are still there?"

"We know the communication system of the gate is still working, since we get signals from the other side." General Williams looked at her for a few minutes. "The signals we are receiving are alien in origin. They are there, and we have reason to believe more are coming the longer we wait."

"Send me the coordinates." Moretti said, right as the QED let out an overheating and surge alarm. Moretti looked at the screen, looking for the indicated problem. "Sir, the QED gives an overheating and surge alarm, I think it will give out at any moment. Send me anything you have."

"Done." Williams answered. "Good luc..."

The QED sputtered, as a massive surge ran through the systems. The hologram of the General faded from view and the massive arcs of electricity where bolting between the different high powered parts. Moretti pulled the main breaker, and pulled the fire extinguish handle. "SHIT!" She screamed loudly, as the QED seem to permanently die.

"Out of the frying pan, through the fire, right into the meat grinder." She walked out of the repurposed VIP room, with a quickly souring mood.

"Great, just great."

* * *

The engineering team spend several hours in the QED room, trying to assess the damage done by the power surge. Moretti stood with her back against the wall, looking at the spectacle with a distant look. Her mind was racing over the implications of her new orders. She had not yet given the order to change course.

_Combat._

Moretti had entered a state of indecisiveness, and was weighing her options. She was used to the situation being clear-cut, but again everything was a contradiction, especially her feelings. The new orders relayed by General Williams effectively ended the setup by the admirals, which made her feel relieved beyond measure. However, the orders themselves would send her ship and crew to probably the same unknown enemy, now established to be hostile. And with the Icarus being the state it was in, it was just as much a suicide job.

_- What if we just turn around and go back?_ Her mind threw the option out in her conscious thought.

_No, I cannot do that. Everybody would be branded a traitor, and I would be shot too._

_- But everybody would be out alive._ Her mind countered again.

_We are under attack by an aggressive alien species. It's a fight for survival now. We cannot back down. We have nowhere to run to._

_- But you want this charade to end, don't you? _The darker undertone of her mind made the thought ever more sweeter. She had been thinking this for the past few weeks, although she had been denying herself the continuation of the line of thought, the basic wish had returned in force every few days. Being betrayed by the admirals had not been what she had thought would happen in her entire career. Being ordered to fight was one thing. Being ordered to lead a group of people to their deaths just so some science geeks and analysts can see what alien weapons do to our technology was something else. Despite her best efforts to counter her own darker desires, the hostile attitude towards the admirals had only grown the closer she came to completing the mission. She had even considered retiring after this mission was over. One thing she had decided. She would not work with people that she could not trust. One dark thought even had her shoot the admirals for their betrayal. She suppressed that desire too.

_Do I want this?_ The simple question countered her own darker thoughts. _Yes, I want it to end, but not at all cost. Not at the cost of the career of the crew._ Her counter felt valid to her.

_- But most of the crew are not even alliance personnel._ It flashed through her head.

_True._

_- Do they have to die? Do they deserve the fate everyone will suffer due to the admiral's betrayal? _

_No._ There was no denying the fact. Most were civilians. Honorable ones at that. They just got caught up in this, just like she was. But they had not signed up for combat duty; or to be targets in alien target practice.

_- Your __first duty__ as captain is to__ your ship__. Your __second duty__ is to __your crew__._ The thought entered with venom dripping off of it. The intention was clear, and it was something she had been feeling for quite a while. She had been lying to everybody on the ship for two weeks now, and it was eating away at her. _So do your duty, Captain! Protect the ship and crew!_

_I..._

"Commander?"

_I... Cannot condemn the entirety of the Alliance. We need the intel if we want to have a chance in this fight._

"Commander!"A hand landed on her shoulder, startling Moretti back to the present.

"Sorry. I was.. thinking." She stammered.

"And then some." The man in front of her said, now identified as Chief Engineer Diego Garcia Ramos. "We have surveyed the damage. Unfortunately, there are no manuals of this piece of technology, and I have no idea what half of this does. Perhaps some of the smarter techs can figure this out, but it will take time."

"Understood, Lieutenant. Any estimate on when we can get this back online? It is a mission critical piece of equipment." Moretti replied, now bringing all her attention to bare.

"I understand ma'am. But somebody installed this piece of equipment without informing me of its function and its design. They were carrying some pretty high orders too; there was not much I could do. Now that it is broken, there is also not much I can do to fix it, either. Sorry."

Moretti's thoughts used this opportunity to pitch in. - _Mission critical equipment is gone. Your intel will not get where it needs to go now. Time to turn around and go home._

_NO!... No._ She silenced her thoughts. Her face mirrored her internal turmoil, as quick facial expressions flashed on her face briefly. "Chief, let it be. We need to focus on the other systems first. Heat dissipation being the first one. If we have time left, or if some of the engineers have nothing to do, than they can tackle this."

"Yes, Commander." The chief engineer replied with a quick nod, after which he went back to his duties.

_- Heroes are fools._ Her thoughts flashed, as the last of the crew and engineers left the QED-room to go back to their previous jobs, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

"Maybe. But I do not intend to be either." She uttered softly to a quiet room. "There is another way."

* * *

"Attention all crew, this is Commander Moretti."

_How do you begin to tell them that we are ordered to our deaths?_ The thought had an undertone of irony in it, but she felt better for opening her mouth. This would also get her relieved of her command, however, she had already decided as well, that she did not care anymore.

From behind her desk in her private room, she took a few seconds to formulate the message she was going to tell. "Moments ago, I received a message from Shanxi. Humanity has come under attack, by an unknown alien species." She could imagine that everybody on the ship was taking this moment to gasp at the message. It gave her a few seconds to recap. "As you are aware, it was the original goal of this mission to investigate a possible alien contact from one of our probes. However, that is not the entire story."

"Obviously, the new situation changes our mission significantly, however, the entire truth is a lot less flattering than originally known by all of you. And that was by intention by those who gave us the mission. In short: we have been betrayed by the Alliance admiralty." Having said that, she felt somehow lighter. "And we have a decision to make."

* * *

Hackett looked up from his seventh attempt to write a letter, as the Commander made her grand announcement. He listened in silence as the commander diverged the betrayal by the admirals. A betrayal that General Williams had, in a very subtle manner, tried to warn them about. Moretti's revelation could no longer surprise him, but when looking Martin, he saw his eyes getting bigger and bigger.

"That.." He managed to stammer out. "They.."

"As a soldier, you are sometimes ordered to go somewhere, and you do not have the luxury to know why, how, or what for." Hackett said calmly. "This was one of those times."

"You knew?" Martin looked at his friend with a shocked face. "You knew, and you were willing to let the crew fly into a death trap?"

"I highly suspected, yes." Hackett said calmly.

"And you are ok with that?" Martin's surprised look only increased in intensity. "How... How can you risk your _life_ for people that see yours only as an expendable resource?" He took a deep breath. "This is not what I signed on for! I say: _fuck 'm_. Let's go home!"

"Something tells me it is not that simple anymore. The aliens have made contact, and they are hostile. True, we were originally supposed to find out _if_ they were hostile. But despite the basic information we have, leading to a conclusion of betrayal, we do not know the true intentions behind the orders. And we probably never will. That does not mean the job is not important for the survival of the human race."

"Wow, that's.." Martin said hesitantly, figuring out the best way to put it. "... just the propaganda, Steve. Tell me you don't really fall for that shit?"

Hackett smiled. "It is not about what I believe, Martin. It is about the bigger picture. And we don't know it."

"You heard the Commander! _Aliens _have _attacked_ humanity. We are now at _war_. Our mission is now pointless, and we have received new orders to send us to the location of the battle, to look at aliens who are most definitely going to shoot us now!"

"That's putting it simply, I guess... But, yes." Hackett agreed.

"Yeah. But did you forget the fun fact that this ship is still an explosion in a girder factory? We have no weapons to speak of, and the defensive systems, excluding shields, are pretty much all not working. Next to that: even if our weapons worked, we don't have any ammo. Which incidentally also means that you are useless on this mission."

Hackett chuckled. "I have really come to appreciate your positive attitude, my friend."

Martin huffed at that. "You know I am right. The thing I just can't get my head wrapped around, is the fact that you knew, and you did not do anything about it."

Hackett stood up from behind his desk, and walked towards his window. "What could I have done? Take over the ship? I would be shot when we got back. Confront the Commander? She would say: 'yeah, we got the shitty end of the deal, sorry'." He turned around. "And do you _really_ think I am ok with it? Guess again. But there is a difference in knowing and not knowing."

"And what is that? Saying 'I told you so' when shit hits the fan?" Martin mocked, but there was anger creeping in his voice.

"No. Knowing will allow you to make a difference when the time comes. And that is what I intended to do. My job as tactical officer." Hackett said.

"You were going to save the ship? How?" Martin let out a sigh. "We just got betrayed by the people we are supposed to trust upon for our safety." He also stood up and positioned himself next to Hackett, both looking out of the window now. "I have the urge to punch somebody. Hard. You know?"

Hackett chuckled at that. "Yeah, I know the feeling." Hackett had a soft smile on his face. "There was a terrible movie once about one of humanities first AI, being in charge of a nuclear response protocol, I believe. It was in the era of the Cold War. The AI was responding to a training scenario, or something, and tried to decide whether to release all the nuclear weapons. It was facing the dilemma that no attack scenario would end in a favorable result."

"_That_ did not sound like a good movie. And you are talking about 'Mutually Assured Destruction', aren't you?" Hackett nodded. "What was the point of the movie?"

"It really wasn't a good movie. They did, however, make a part two. It even had the same ending. The point was, that to convince the AI to analyze the scenario, they let it play a game of tic-tac-toe. The result was, that after many games, the AI would always end in a stalemate."

"I still do not see the point." Martin said.

"The point was: The only way to win, was not to play."

"That makes no sense." Martin said. "And what does that have to do with anything here?"

"The admirals expected us to get destroyed. They expected us to get the probe. I would never engage the aliens with the ship is in this condition. Especially not for a probe that will most definitely hold no information about our origins."

Martin let the information sink in. His face frowned several times while looking at Hackett. "You... You were going to defy orders?" Martin's mouth opened up, giving him a look of utter astonishment.

Hackett chuckled slightly. "Yeah. Well, technically, I was not going to defy orders, but I was not going to carry them out either. I would be doing my job. And as tactical officer, going close to an enemy ship without proper weapons and shields is suicide."

"Heh.. I should have known. Hackett finding the only way out of a no-win scenario." Martin's mood visibly improved.

"Well, yeah. The only way to win was not to play. I just had to make it look good, and the rest would take care of itself. It would take skill, and there are a lot of unknowns, but I also know what I can do." Martin looked at Hackett with a frown. "Yeah, I know that sounds arrogant.." Hackett retorted.

"Glad you realize that already."

It was silent for a few moments as both men looked out the window, both drowning in their own thoughts. Hackett thought about the confidence he just displayed towards his friend. _'Part of being a captain is knowing when to smile.' _He heard the voice of his old mentor in his mind. _'Your crew rely on you for their confidence. The captain always knows.'_ And even though Hackett was by no means a captain, it is a rule he kept from that moment on. _'The crew needs to feel confident. Knowledge is both an asset and a liability.'_ Yet, it still pained Hackett that he could not be honest to one of his friends.

_How do I tell him, I was already prepared to die before I set foot aboard this ship._ It raced through his mind. _How do I tell him that I don't think I have what it takes to avoid the mess we are going to?_ Hackett flashed a pained expression on his face. _He does not deserve to die, unlike, maybe, me._ _ He has no blood on his hands. He is an engineer. He is still innocent._

_I am lying to my friend._

_To.. MY FRIEND. _He felt remorse creep up on him. It was not like Hackett had never lied before. He was actually quite good at it. But he never lied to a friend. It was the one solid rule he had concerning lying.

_I.. I won't. I will not._ He was about to open his mouth, when a stray thought entered his mind. _What about his morale?_

Hackett broke the silence. "That mission has ended now, however."

Martin looked at him, and instantly, his face went into a depressed look. "Oh, yeah.. Right. I guess I forgot for a moment."

_See what you did there? The man cannot fight without hope. He needs something to hold on to._ Hackett mind raced the comment through his conscious thoughts, as Hackett felt a pit rise in his stomach.

_What about my morale? _Hackett thought, almost out loud, in defiance of his guilt; which now flowed both ways of the choice he just made. _Damned if I do, damned if I don't._

Martin continued. "Yeah, we are now going to a location that will have aliens for sure; and they are now hostile for sure, too; and are a match for us for sure; oh, and there is no way we can contact the fleet for anything since our QED is out, while our fleet needs the intel we can collect, and the engineers on this ship have no idea how to fix that machine." He looked Hackett straight in the eye, his face now surprisingly calm. "Tell me, man to man, no bullshit: What are our chances?"

Hackett flinched at that. He should have known that Martin was very capable of having a good grip on the situation, even if he put it simply. "Realistically? Not much." He murmured.

Martin's face kept a blank stare for a few seconds. When he finally opened his mouth, the words came out subdued. "I see."

"But to be frank, I fully expected this mission to be my last."

* * *

The trip to the opposite Shanxi-Theta gate took only 6,5 days. The closer they got, the more depressed Martin's look got. Hackett felt for his friend. _I should have lied. I should have spared him the burden._

Hackett had even apologized to his friend, but Martin would have nothing of it.

- _"We are friends. If fate decides to screw us over, than that is a responsibility we will carry together."_

Hackett tried to explain that it was not his burden to carry. Martin just looked back with a blank stare in his eyes, and quoted Hackett's own line back to him.

_- "There is a difference in knowing, and not knowing."_

"Stay sharp people. We are 3 minutes from dropping out of FTL. I want all stations on hot stand-by!" Moretti said to the bridge crew. That got Hackett out of his line of thinking, as he quickly went over his screen, mostly displaying turrets and guns with red lines around them, as they were all out of ammo, or not even installed. He had switched his monitor to show sensors and shield information, allowing him still a significant part of work to do, despite of now doing another station's work twice.

"Commander, I would advice hiding as fast as possible. Find an asteroid belt, or a moon to hide behind. If they really are hostile, than we do not need the company." Hackett reported over the bridge.

"Understand, Lieutenant." Moretti replied in her business-voice. She keyed the internal communications. "Lieutenant Ramos, report ship status."

- "Ramos here, ma'am. All working systems are at 100%. However, it will still take several days to get the heat dissipation systems online. On a positive note though, I have found a shortcut that shaved several days off the work." The voice sounded tired, but confident.

"Is that shortcut going to affect ship systems negatively, Lieutenant Ramos?" XO Rutan asked.

"No sir, I just repurposed the rapid prototype units in the machine shop to production machines in my spare time. It worked, and we can now make most parts at reasonable to good quality. But the important part is, we can now make assemblies as one print, instead of a 6 hour assembly job. So, a few days it is."

"Understood, Lieutenant." Moretti said. Surprisingly, she smiled at that, knowing that despite the crew knowing all of the truth, they almost unanimously decided that they would follow their Commander on whatever choice she would make. And she decided that the fate of humanity as a whole was more important than their fate, or even Moretti's own feelings concerning the betrayal.

"Hackett, combat status." She said over the bridge, to her trusted Lieutenant.

"_Fucked_." Hackett blurted out. "Ah, shit. Sorry." The non military personnel on the bridge chuckled. Even Moretti let out a, nowadays, rare smile. "I would advice not to get in any type of conflict, whatsoever. Running would be the better part of valor, in this instance." Hackett finished his tactical review with a brightly redden face.

"So.. To recap.." XO Rutan said, with a broad smile on his face, ".. Your assessment is: 'If we get in a combat situation, we are not just fucked, we are _royally_ fucked'." Again chuckles were heard on the bridge. One of them was Moretti, who now openly joined the crew, all seemingly amused by Hackett's unease about his blunder.

"Yes, sir." Hackett said subdued.

"Exiting FTL." Hammer said.

* * *

Hammer was a man of few words. As he put it: He let his flying to the talking. It was the one thing in his life that he loved with a passion. He once said to a pole dancer, who asked him out for a dance: _"I don't dance, I fly." _The irony in that statement, and the whole situation itself, was not lost on Hammer too. But the man had his own approach to life. And it defined him, to the core.

Not much in this galaxy could make Hammer feel anything besides neutral, he was not an emotional man, except for two things: woman, and flying. Although that was not quite as accurate. Technically it was: Sex and flying. Unfortunately, his piss-poor people skills made him only suitable for hookers, although that still did the trick for him. It was not something he was particularly proud of, however it was something he could accept as a fact of life. One that fitted quite well with his other passion.

Flying.

Flying anything with a stick gave him a rush unlike anything else. He used to be pretty bad at it, but he persevered. Even managed to end 3rd best in his class, despite having a few near accidents in his earlier lessons. Hammer always thought that if a ship was an instrument, he could make it sing. If flying was a tune, then he was writing a symphony. That thought alone made him smile. He was content with where he was in life.

Except today.

'A man of simple convictions' he might be, but betrayal still stung him hard. Fighting for your life is very different when you know you are send out to die. _Without hope, without an utter conviction that winning is not just a possibility, but an inevitability, why keep fighting?_

He sat in his chair, looking at the clock, slowly winding down to zero. They were moving into the heart of the conflict, with a ship that was not ready. _Why did I have to be on a cutting edge vessel? Was flying an ordinary frigate not enough?_

3:00

_Three minutes until we die. Did anybody on this bloody ship get the memo yet? We have been betrayed, and we are speeding towards our doom. Great._ His thoughts kept hunting him. Behind him, the bridge crew where discussing strategies and ship status, but he was not paying attention. His panel in front of him told him what he needed to see. _This ship is a death-trap. We are doomed, and we are still going straight into the depths of Hell. Good work, __Captain__, really. Who the fuck thought you proper decision making? _Hammer's mood was beginning to sour at the same speed as the clock that was counting down to zero.

2:00

He quieted his mind. _Sulking will not help. Although it feels good, I guess. _Behind him, the conversation raged on. Something about a shortcut in getting the heat dissipation systems to work. Hammer paid no further attention though. _I should stop feeling sorry for myself. This whining is getting me nowhere. _He felt his resolve come back. _It is not over yet. _Remembering the information Commander Moretti dispersed, his mind ran through the gate fight. _We were a match. We were technologically less advanced, but we could keep up. We could hurt them. Which means, they are comparable. _

1:00

_I still have my skill. It is not over if they cannot hit us. _In the background Hammer heard chuckling, following Hackett's analysis of 'fucked'. _No. If we are comparable, than skill is making the difference. Which means __my__ skill will be the first line of defense. That Hackett kid's skill is the second line. Moretti and that Rutan guy is third. I hope the rookies can keep up._ A slight smile formed on his lips, as Hammer ran a quick check over all the major systems he needed to be at his best. _Flight systems check._ He checked the clock. _And with time to spare. I rock._

_Game time!_ "Exiting FTL."

He maneuvered the Icarus out of FTL travel between a moon and the 3rd planet. XO Rutan had done a quick assessment of the situation. "We cannot stay here, it is much to open."

Hackett decided to pitch in. "The XO is right. I am reading large open space. The gravimetric waves are coming from the outer edge of the solar system, as is apparently usual with the hyperspace gates. It seems to be offline though." Hackett typed on his panel. "Shields are online and go. We have full maneuverability and I have nothing on sensors for 800.000 kilometers radius around us."

The sensor station decided to speak up. "Commander, I am picking up lots of FTL radio chatter. It seems heavily encrypted, so I cannot decipher it. However: it is not ours."

The bridge seemed to get silent from that piece of information. "How many can you pick up?" Commander Moretti finally asked.

"I don't know, Commander. More then 5, anyway. We need to get closer if we want a better view."

That information also did not sit well. "Bad idea." Hammer decided to pitch in.

"I agree." Hackett said. "But we need the intel."

"So, how do we get closer in this equivalent of a lighthouse in the night, without getting seen?" Rutan asked. Hammer 'smelled' his chance.

"Micro-jumps."

"Explain." Commander Moretti immediately replied. Hammer groaned internally. He disliked explaining above anything else. It simply took too many words.

He thought for a few moments before answering. "We jump from hiding place to hiding place." He decided to keep it at that.

"That is dangerous at the best of times." Rutan contemplated out loud.

"So is fighting with them." Hammer answered ad rem. The bridge fell silent again. He felt all eyes on him. He bit his tongue in a vain attempt to stem his irritation as he continued. "Hackett can guide us. If he gets me the coordinates, I will get us there."

"You can do that?" Moretti asked unsure.

"Just give me a straight line in, and 200 meters of room at all sides." Hammer responded with an air of confidence. _Yeah. We are not going to lose today. Not today. Not now. Not if I have anything to say about it._

"Do it." Moretti said. "Hackett, get us closer."

"Yes ma'am."

"Buckle up." Hammer added, and with a slightly humorous tone, added: "Turbulance."

* * *

It took them more than 27 micro-jumps to get closer, but finally the Icarus was in a location where they had a good vantage point on the gate, while still having a good hiding spot as well. Heat expenditure was kept to an absolute minimum, as all non-essential systems were off-line. Even most lights where off.

Hackett and Hammer had managed to synchronize their workload as they performed flawless jump after flawless jump. Moretti was impressed, but she did not show it. Inside her, the two sides of her conviction were still battling it out, however, she could not deny the sense of utter pride in her crew. They had performed on a level of them own, with an untested tactic, that could change the war-games as the Alliance played them now. It could spark an entire new level of infiltration tactics. As she set with a smile on her face, the last jump was completed.

"Jump 27: on target." Hammer reported.

"Oh shit." Hackett murmured.

"What is it?" Moretti said, almost in reflex. She expected that Hackett had made a calculation error in the last jump, however he put a tactical readout on the main viewer.

"17 ships." He uttered, clearly in awe. "The... " Hackett's voice stocked for a moment, and he cleared his throat loudly. "*Ahum*...The gate is guarded by 17 alien ships. Half of them seem to be in position to jump as soon as the gate starts working again."

All attention was on the tactical view, displayed on the main screen. Soft mumbles could be heard of people cursing their current predicament. Hackett lined up the outboard camera's on one of the alien ships, and displayed the image on the main view screen. Everybody stared at the strange, almost avian look of the alien vessels.

Surprising everybody on the bridge, Hammer put it in words first. "Predatory." The emotion, now clearly audible in his voice, contrasting with the normally quiet and subdued man. Nobody contradicted him.

"We need to warn the home front." Moretti said. "Anybody have any ideas?"

"Only one." XO Rutan pitched in. "An old trick to keep the home base up to date, or asked for help without getting detected: A burst transmission."

Hackett thought for a moment. "That could work. We can even aim it using the tight beam transmitters, since they are working. But where do we aim it?"

"Communications, are we still receiving the standby signal from the gate?" Rutan asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Then that means the transmission capability is still intact. It might not be able to send ships, but I am willing to bet it can still send data. If we tight beam it to the gate as accurately as we can, we might even go undetected. But it will be _tight_."

Moretti looked at her XO. He was clearly older than her, but normally he remained more on the background. The experience of the man was more in ship systems and organizing the crew. However, ever since she revealed the scenario, Rutan had become more active for his part. "How tight?"

"We have to hit a target the size of 1 square meter, from a distance of 25.000.000 kilometers away, without scraping the transmission on any of the 17 ships, floating only kilometers from the gate itself." Rutan explained. "So.. tight. Tighter than... " He stopped himself. "Perhaps this is not the right time for such a joke." However, he had revealed too much, as some of the engineers who knew the man better, started to chuckle.

"Can we do it?"

"We need a while, but... maybe." Rutan replied. Moretti gave her XO a disappointed look.

"That is the best we can do?" Moretti responded, with a bit of irritation creeping in her voice.

"Yeah." Rutan waited a few seconds, thinking on how to word his reply. "No guaranties here. This will be a dice roll with fixed dice. It might work, however, they still might smell something off."

Moretti sighed. "Ok then. I guess we don't have much choice. Do it."

Rutan moved towards communications, as Moretti let herself sit down in her comfortable captain's chair. "Perhaps we get lucky." Hammer said.

She looked up at him. "This type of luck tends to have a price, Hammer."

* * *

FTL: Faster Than Light.


End file.
